A good diet has 2 components: 1) good efficacy and 2) good compliance. First, it is necessary to remember that we are all unique. What one person may do for weight loss may not always be the best way for you to lose weight. If there was one best way to lose weight, we would have found it by now and solved our current weight problem. Weight loss should be individualized and safe (monitored by a physician) to have the best chance of being successful.
To find out which diet and way of losing weight is best for you, it is good to take efficacy and compliance into account.
Efficacy is the measure of how good a diet is for losing weight. Some diets predict 1-2 pounds of weight loss while being done on your own and other diets using a physician (bariatrician) to oversee and direct your diet. On these diets, you may be able to achieve more weight loss, up to 5-7 pounds in a week.
Compliance is a measure of how easy the diet is to follow. Not only do you have to be able to lose weight on your diet but you have to be able to stay on it for a prolonged time. Even a few days may be hard on some restrictive diets. If you can lose weight on a diet but can’t seem to stay on it, it’s no better or worse than being able to stay on a particular diet but not lose weight. Our diet plans when individualized allow you to have both success (efficacy) and longevity (compliance).
We find that diets that use meal replacements such as Optifast, when monitored and prescribed by a bariatrician, tend to provide a good and sustainable weight loss. It is energizing to be able to measure good weekly weight loss and also to feel good doing it. Most persons on our diets do not report hunger and have more energy than before their diets. Some persons choose an Optifast full meal replacement plan (bars, shakes and soups) for the speed of weight loss and the ease of not having to prepare meals. Others choose initially to choose Optifast and also to do a meal of regular food so that they may eat with their families, significant others or in business meals.