In the ever-growing world of weight loss, diet programs such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers have climbed to the top of the market. They represent the two different segments of the dieting world: pre-packaged meals and calorie counting. Celebrities like Jennifer Hudson and Charles Barkley promote the effectiveness of these plans on television. But it may be difficult for the average person to understand what these diets are really about, and most importantly, if they work.
Pre-packaged meals
Pre-packaged meals consist of foods with pre-set nutritional values. By consuming pre-packaged meals, one knows exactly how many calories they are getting without any of the guesswork involved.
Chemistry and nutrition professor Angela Horgan said that while the pre-packaged diets are a good way for people to lose weight, they make it quite difficult for people to keep said weight off and to maintain their ideal weight, especially with a healthy social life.
“In reality, it’s going to be months before you reach a goal weight. [Pre-packaged diets] make it really hard to eat out. You can’t eat at restaurants or at parties or buffets,” Horgan said. “You want to have a social life, which so many times revolves around eating, and it makes it really hard for people when they do go out. They continue to eat what they know from what is sent to them, and they haven’t really learned the skills to say what is healthier or smaller portion skills.”
Horgan and community health professor Carlos Crespo agreed that while pre-packaged meals may be an easy way for people to shed the pounds, it is difficult to sustain, both physically and economically.
“My main concern is sustainability,” Crespo said. “The issue of whether you can sustain yourself for the rest of your life eating pre-packaged food. Also, the plans can lead to an inability to test and taste healthy foods that may not be within those pre-packed meals.”
Horgan said that people who are thinking of these types of diets should try frozen options, such as Lean Cuisine, before buying into the plan because many of the options are similar. And with any pre-packaged option, Horgan said, clients need to be cautious of the amount of sodium and other processing materials that are used.
Calorie counting
The other side of popular weight-loss programs is calorie counting. The main flag-bearer for this is Weight Watchers, where food is given point values based on its caloric proportions. Weight Watchers also emphasizes group meetings and discussion, something Horgan said is important for successful weight loss.
“Weight Watchers is group weight loss,” Horgan said. “You get a lot of peer support, and that is a method of weight loss that is very successful. You talk about what works for you with others, and that really helps people stick with it and stay motivated.”
Both Horgan and Crespo said it is never a bad thing to be aware of how much you are eating and how many calories you are counting, but that should just be the start of understanding nutrition and how to eat right.
“I think it is good to count calories. At the end of the day if there is a caloric imbalance that creates the extra energy…the extra you haven’t used that will be stored as fat,” Crespo said. “But you can’t count calories and points for the rest of your life. You might have to develop a better portion control system.”
While Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig may be a way for people to start losing weight, there needs to be a constant push to understand diet, nutrition and how to regulate one’s weight. For example, Crespo said that people often have the misconception that healthy food is much more expensive. However, when people make their own lunch at home, they typically are saving money.
Both Crespo and Horgan agreed that eating less processed food will almost exclusively be the healthiest and best way for people to lose weight. Horgan said people who don’t know how to cook can simply take a beginner’s cooking class or speak with a nutritionist about healthy eating habits.
While the diets may help individuals get the weight off, they are often unsustainable in the long run. This is why both Crespo and Horgan said going back to basics is the key. “I would always tell anyone to tell anyone to be wary of any weight loss program that guarantees quick results,” Horgan said. “It took a lot to put it on, it will take a lot to get it off.”
So in the end, while diet plans may be a good way to get into losing weight, simply choosing the apple over the chips may be everyone’s best bet.