And the Diet Winner Is . . .

Still fielding questions from clients as to which diet works best in the long term? Here’s some food for thought from the editors of Health magazine, who recently surveyed 1,000 women randomly assigned to one of four popular diets for a 6-month period.

1. Weight Watchers: Came in number one in most categories, most notably as the diet most people stuck with; the plan that produced the most weight loss (11.2 pounds over the 6-month period); the easiest diet to follow; the best lifestyle fit; and the plan most women could live with over time.

2. The Way to Eat (a Mediterranean-style eating plan): Came in second in the categories of the diet most people stuck with; the easiest diet to follow; the best lifestyle fit; and the plan most women could live with over time.

3. The Atkins Diet: Came in second in terms of weight loss (9.8 pounds over the 6-month period), but placed dead last as the diet most people stuck with; the best lifestyle fit; and the plan most women could live with over time.

4. Dean Ornish’s Eat More, Weigh Less: This extremely low fat diet fared the worst in terms of weight loss (5 pounds over 6 months) and being easy to follow; it placed second to last as the best lifestyle fit and as the plan most women could live with over time.