Table of Contents
- To determine the best weight loss programs in 2024, we personally subscribed to nine top weight loss programs for two weeks each. During testing, we followed the program and participated in online member communities and coaching sessions.
- We gathered insights about healthy eating and weight loss from interviews with experts, including dietitians, nutritionists, and doctors.
- We tested each program, evaluating each feature users would need, including program length, cost vs. value, the nutritional advice and support offered through meal plans, recipes, and tracking, community support, customer service, and any additional features, like coaching. We also spoke to other members of the app to gain insight about others’ experiences using it.
- We chose Noom as the overall best weight loss program because it has the longest plan option at 12 months, and focuses heavily on mental health support, making and celebrating small, sustainable changes, and assessing your lifestyle as it correlates to your weight loss goals.
Everyone can benefit from support and resources to achieve specific goals in their life and losing weight to better your health is no different. One of the tools to help you achieve your health goals is a weight loss program. Unlike diets that mainly focus on specific eating guidelines, the best weight loss programs offer comprehensive support, including meal plans, exercise instructions, and sometimes counseling, which can provide the structured support needed for effective weight management.
Of course, weight loss programs may not be right for everyone, and you should always consult with your doctor to develop a plan for losing weight that’s right for you. Our Handbook Team has researched and tested a number of programs to find out the potential benefits and if the program is worth the hundreds of dollars you’ll pay in annual membership fees. We also consulted with multiple registered dieticians to recommend the best weight loss programs offering accurate and effective nutritional and weight loss strategies. We’re here to provide unbiased information so you can make a knowledgeable decision for sustainable health. Here’s what we learned about the best weight loss programs of 2024.
Our picks of the best weight loss programs
- Noom: Best overall
- Simple: Best for beginners
- Mayo Clinic Diet: Best for flexibility
- Joggo: Best for runners
- Nutrisystem: Best for convenience
- DoFasting: Best for intermittent fasting beginners
- Perfect Body: Best for weight loss recipes
- Weight Watchers: Best affordable program
There are considerable mental health benefits associated with healthy eating. But we know that with so many weight loss programs out there, it can be hard to know which one to choose. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to share the best information about the tools available. We’re invested in helping you find a weight loss plan that’s safe and supportive.
Through surveys, hands-on testing, interviews, and insights from healthy living experts, we’ve formulated a strongly informed perspective that we’re sharing with you here.
If you’re affected by an eating disorder or experience patterns of disordered eating, we suggest talking to a dietitian, therapist, or counselor who specializes in eating disorders before you enroll in any weight loss program.
Compare the best weight loss programs
Starting monthly cost | $17.50 | $17.99 | $19.99 | $33 | $339.99 | $38 | $39 | $23 |
Services | App-based program; Food and activity tracking; Recipes; Coaching | App-based program, educational content, weekly meal plans | App and website; 6 meal plans; Recipes and shopping lists; At-home workouts | Weekly meal plans; Customized training regimens | Website and app; Meal delivery; Weight loss program | Website and app; Food and activity tracking; Workout routines; Weekly health report | App-based program, 24/7 coaching, tracking tools | WW app and website; Online community; 24/7 coaching; Educational content and recipes |
Key points | Program length: 1–12 months; Focus on mental health | Program length: 1, 3, 6, and 9-month plans; AI health coach; Menu scanner; Nutrition scores | Program length: 3 months; No calorie counting; Focus on education | Program length: 2, 4, or 6 months; App does list the calories you eat and burn | Program length: Monthly; 130+ menu options; Plans start at $11.08/day | Program length: 1, 3 and 6 months; Meal recommendations; Fasting timer; Water tracker | Program length: 1, 3, and 6-month plans, personalized meal plans | Program length: 3 to 10 months; 3 different plan options |
*These prices often vary based on location and promotions.
The best weight loss programs reviews
Best overall: Noom
Our final verdict on Noom
Noom is a weight loss platform that includes food and health tracking, motivational lessons, coaching, and online communities to help you reach your weight goals. We liked the slower pace of this program compared to others, with a focus on learning more about your own weight loss journey rather than just setting a goal to reach a given size. The daily lessons emphasize setting realistic goals you can reach, celebrating small successes along the way, educating yourself on healthy habits, and getting more support when you need it.
In addition to the services offered with every Noom subscription, you can add the below extras. Prices of the add-ons varies depending on your personal plan:
- Personal behavior coaching and 1:1 weekly sessions.
- Custom meal plan.
- Custom workout plan.
- Body composition scale.
Noom coaches aren’t credentialed health professionals, so they can provide motivational support but not medical or nutrition advice. We had a hard time getting timely responses from both customer service and the coaches, and multiple testers found that the customer service chat wasn’t able to answer questions.
Nevertheless, we like that this program has a greater focus on mental health as an important part of weight loss than other programs we tested. Some of the lessons seemed elementary, but we enjoyed the upbeat tone and positivity.
Read our in-depth Noom review to learn more.
Best for beginners: Simple
Our final verdict on Simple
Simple is an intermittent fasting app designed to give people daily insight into nutrition and guide them through a specific eating pattern for sustainable weight loss. We like Simple for beginners, as it offers real-time nutritional evaluations around food choices, providing important feedback without requiring calorie counting. The user-friendly interface includes all the tools you need, including articles covering how intermittent fasting works, the benefits of specific foods, and more. An AI-powered wellness assistant in the app can answer questions and offer suggestions.
To begin, you’ll complete a fairly detailed questionnaire that includes age, sex, current nutrition habits and preferences, specific areas where you’d like to lose weight, current height and weight, and additional lifestyle questions. The app has a free version that lets users log meals and track water intake, but the premium plan offers access to the food scanner, educational readings, recommendations, and other features.
Using the app is fairly straightforward. You’ll choose your fasting and eating windows, and the app will send notifications and feature a fasting “countdown” on your lock screen to keep you informed throughout the day. We appreciated the information but found the steady notifications a little excessive as the days passed. When it’s time to eat, you can log your meal by entering it manually, using voice-to-text, or uploading a photo to receive an immediate nutrition score designed to guide you to healthier food choices. It also includes a breakdown of calories and macronutrients.
Best for flexibility: Mayo Clinic Diet
Our final verdict on the Mayo Clinic Diet
The Mayo Clinic diet was developed by a team of doctors, dietitians, and psychologists as a way to teach people healthy habits with a 12-week program, enabling them to lose weight and keep it off for the long run. Clinical studies have found that this length of time is reasonable for participants to see changes in body weight and composition.
The program offers six meal plans that you can choose from based on your food preferences and health needs, including a low-carb plan and three gluten-free options. This is a huge plus for many people: Our survey of 600 weight loss program users found that 57 percent wanted a program that could help them with meal planning.
We recommend the Mayo Clinic Diet as a great weight loss option for anyone wanting to lose weight. It’s a particularly good choice for those who may want or need the flexibility of following a specific diet, such as gluten-free or vegan, but offers a wide range of solid benefits for everyone.
Read our in-depth Mayo Clinic Diet review to learn more.
Best for runners: Joggo
Our final verdict on Joggo
Joggo is primarily geared toward runners rather than people looking to lose weight, but it offers a number of features that can be helpful for weight loss. It’s also one of the most affordable programs on the market.
To learn more about this weight loss program, read our Joggo review.
Best program for convenience: Nutrisystem
Our final verdict on Nutrisystem
Nutrisystem has been around since 1975, when it introduced one of the first calorie-controlled meal delivery programs. It still works the same way, with meals, snacks, and shakes delivered to your door. Nutrisystem is a full service weight loss program with a price tag to match.
Learn more in our Nutrisystem review.
Best for intermittent fasting: DoFasting
Our final verdict on DoFasting
DoFasting is an app that guides you in following an intermittent fasting schedule. Intermittent fasting is a system of eating during a set window of time each 24-hour period and fasting for the rest of the time. Intermittent fasting has been shown to support weight loss and lower blood lipid levels and blood pressure. DoFasting allows you to set a timer for fasting and eating, track food intake, and track weight.
The program offers fasting schedules that range between 12 and 72 hours. Our testers found that fasting for 12 hours was easy, as most of the fast happened at night while they slept. But the 16- and 18-hour fast was much harder to stick with due to blood sugar drops that caused mood swings and uncomfortable hunger pangs. All of the testers opted out of trying the 20-hour fast.
Learn more in our DoFasting review.
Best for Weight Loss Recipes: Perfect Body
Our final verdict on Perfect Body
Perfect Body is a weight-loss program with personalized 28-day meal plans. Each plan is developed by a nutritionist and customized to your weight loss goals and dietary preferences based on your answers to their online questionnaire. The program is entirely digital, and every meal plan includes balanced recipes that you’ll make yourself.
The 28-day plan includes five recipes per day, including two snacks, with step-by-step instructions, plus calorie and macronutrient information. The app lets you swap a meal for a variety of alternate recipe options if something doesn’t seem appealing, and you can also skip meals entirely. While the app works well if you’re following the recipe plan, there is no option for adding outside recipes and meals. We think that makes the Perfect Body plan unsustainable as a long-term option, because it doesn’t teach users how to make healthy decisions when they’re dining out.
Overall, we found the recipes diverse and generally tasty. We enjoyed the varied recipes, which encouraged trying new flavor combinations. Still, we would have preferred the recipes to be organized in a way that limited the number of ingredients purchased per week. We were unimpressed with some of the recipes’ seasoning recommendations, as they were often limited to salt and pepper, making some meals quite bland.
Best affordable program: WeightWatchers (WW)
Our final verdict on WeightWatchers (WW)
WeightWatchers is a weight loss program based on a simplified food tracking system and support offered through coaching and member groups. However, it doesn’t provide much in the way of nutrition education or tips for maintaining healthy eating habits once you end your membership.
Read our WeightWatchers review to learn more.
What to consider when choosing a weight loss program
Healthy living, including a balanced diet and regular exercise, is directly related to mental health and overall wellness. A nutritious diet supports strong bones and muscles, combats depression, and lowers the risk of chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes, while regular physical activity can alleviate anxiety and depression and improve sleep.
In some situations, weight loss programs can help you learn more about how nutrition can support your overall health. However, we understand that weight loss is a sensitive topic. Research shows feelings of shame, self-criticism, and social comparison can hinder weight management and eating habits. Some weight loss programs can even intensify these feelings.
If you’re affected by an eating disorder or experience patterns of disordered eating, we suggest talking to a dietitian, therapist, or counselor who specializes in eating disorders before you enroll in any weight loss program.
It’s also important to consider that weight loss programs vary from one to the next, with different tools, support, and methodologies. Choosing the right weight loss program for your needs means finding one that suits your lifestyle, budget, personality, and personal history with food and exercise.
Our Handbook Team is here to offer guidance and help you find weight loss platforms that are positive, fun to use, and supportive of healthy and steady weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week. When choosing your weight loss program, keep these factors in mind:
Your relationship with food
If you’re affected by an eating disorder or experience patterns of disordered eating, speak with a dietitian, therapist, or counselor who specializes in eating disorders before you enroll in any weight loss program. Those who experience feelings of guilt or shame associated with eating should choose a program that encourages a healthy relationship with food, frequent meals rather than periods of fasting, flexible food choices, and a limited focus on calorie counting.
It’s also important to prioritize a program that provides ongoing coaching for added encouragement and support. “An effective weight loss program should ideally offer behavioral support and coaching to address the emotional and psychological aspects of eating. Look for programs that provide guidance on portion control, mindful eating, and strategies to cope with emotional triggers for overeating,” says Chrissy Arsenault, a registered dietitian at Trainer Academy.
Your knowledge base
Are you familiar with nutrition, exercise, and weight loss strategies? Or do you consider yourself a beginner when it comes to weight loss? Some programs, such as the Mayo Clinic Diet, offer more education and support, making all the difference if you’re new to weight loss.
Eating habits promoted by the program
A quality weight loss program will help you establish healthy eating habits to support you for the rest of your life. Beware of any system that teaches severe food restriction, labels foods as “good” or “bad,” or doesn’t provide a well-rounded variety of foods in your meal plan.
“Be wary of any programs that promise rapid, unsustainable weight loss or severely restrict entire food groups or certain foods,” says Arensault. “The nutrition plan should promote a focus on nutrient density and incorporate a balanced intake of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, along with essential vitamins and minerals.
How much do weight loss programs cost?
The cost of weight loss programs varies widely based on the level of support offered, the credentials of the health professionals offering that support, and whether food is provided with the program. For instance, one of the least expensive programs is Joggo with an average price of $12 per month. It’s basically an automated system with little in the way of help from real people or health experts, but if you’re comfortable with a do-it-yourself plan, this is one way to save money.
At the other end of the spectrum is Nutrisystem, a weight loss program that can run up to nearly $400 per month but delivers every meal and snack to your door.
The length of membership you commit to also makes a big difference in the monthly cost for some programs. For instance, Noom charges $70 per month if you sign up for only one month, but $17.50 per month if you subscribe and pay for 12 months at a time.
What is the difference between a diet and a weight loss program?
Weight loss programs and diets have several differences. Diets typically focus on following specific nutritional guidelines, such as the ketogenic diet’s high-fat, low-carb food plan, or the Mediterranean diet’s emphasis on fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats. In contrast, weight loss programs often offer a more comprehensive package, including meal plans, exercise routines, and support from professionals or a community. People may choose a weight loss program over a simple diet because they provide structured plans, motivational support, and accountability, which can be crucial for long-term success.
Popular diets for weight loss
- Keto Diet: Following this high-fat, low-carb diet encourages the body to enter a metabolic state known as ketosis. Because the body burns more fat instead of carbohydrates, the keto diet can cause weight loss.
- Flexitarian Diet: Flexitarians are flexible vegetarians who focus on increasing their intake of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains while decreasing their meat consumption. For some people, reducing their meat intake may also lower their calorie intake, resulting in weight loss.
- Mediterranian Diet: The Mediterranean diet encourages eating more vegetables, healthy fats, and whole grains. It also recommends sticking to lean meats and fish, eliminating red meat, and reducing dairy intake.
- Volumetrics: Individuals who want to eat more food while dieting may turn to a volumetrics diet. On this diet, people lose weight without feeling too hungry by eating a large amount of low-calorie foods.
- DASH Diet: This diet is focused on improving overall health by reducing sodium and saturated fat intake. People following the DASH diet are also encouraged to eat a variety of healthy foods including vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and lean meats.
Our weight loss program testing experience
Our Handbook Team members subscribed to nine top weight loss programs as mystery shoppers. During that time, we did the following:
By becoming familiar with the websites and apps of each program and using them as a normal customer would, we were able to gain a detailed view of how easy (or hard) it was to follow the program in daily life.
Participating in online member communities and coaching sessions gave us insight into the type of support each program offered. And our focus groups and interviews with doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, and mental health experts helped us learn more about the connections between weight loss, physical health, and mental health.
One detail we focused on was the sustainability of each program. It’s vital that a successful weight loss program teaches you how to establish and maintain healthy habits for long-term weight loss, and not all companies are standouts at this skill.
From our tester
“There was a pattern in our research of people joining and losing weight, falling back into old patterns, regaining weight and coming back full circle.”
Our testing results, experiences of other customers compiled from interviews and surveys, and professional opinions of health experts have all informed the conclusions we’ve arrived at and share in this review of the best weight loss programs.
Learn more about our healthy living review methodology.
Frequently asked questions
The surest and safest way to lose weight is to combine a healthy diet that includes a variety of whole foods with a program of regular exercise. Between the calories you take in with your diet and those you burn through exercise and daily activity, you’ll need to be in a calorie deficit to see weight loss, according to the Mayo Clinic. This means that you eat fewer calories than your body is burning each day. Adequate protein and fiber intake are also important to help ward off hunger between meals; a dietitian can help you find the right protein level for your body.
The United States Department of Agriculture recommends a weight loss rate of no more than 1–2 pounds per week.
Promises of more than 2 pounds per week of weight loss, a requirement to eat only foods provided by the program, and shaming of food choices or body weight in any way are all things to avoid when shopping for weight loss programs.
Bringing your weight into a healthy range helps both your body and mind. The physical benefits include minimizing your risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, high blood pressure, stroke, and sleep apnea, among other conditions. Even small weight loss, just 5 percent of your body weight, can result in marked improvements in health measures like blood glucose, triglycerides, and inflammation. These are all risk factors for the health conditions listed above, so lowering levels by losing weight also lowers your risk of the chronic diseases associated with obesity. In addition to physical health, research shows that weight loss offers a number of benefits for mental and emotional health.
Sustainable weight loss can be achieved by setting realistic goals that focus on creating healthy habits and making lasting lifestyle changes. To use a weight loss program safely and sustainably, create a plan you can commit to for the long term and reach out to medical professionals, friends, and family for additional support.
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