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fatsecret.com Releases Its 2007 Diet Year in Review

Which Diets Are Most Popular, What Works Best and Who Won the Diet Battle of the Sexes?

Leading diet and weight loss social network fatsecret.com today released its inaugural Diet Year in Review. To start, the review examined the most popular diets for 2007 which this year were, in order, the South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers, Atkins and the Fat Smash Diet. In terms of weight loss results for these popular diets, the Fat Smash Diet actually led the pack with people losing on average 1.02 lbs a week, compared to 0.73 lbs for the South Beach Diet, 0.65 lbs for Weight Watchers and 0.63 lbs for Atkins.

fatsecret founder Rodney Moses said: "While it's really interesting that some of the dieting powerhouses like the South Beach Diet and Weight Watchers continue to be popular, there is a trend emerging in favor of weight loss programs endorsed by celebrities or those popularized on reality TV shows such as the Fat Smash Diet, which featured on VH1's 'Celebrity Fit Club.'"

Looking at weight loss performance across all popular diets, the Fat Smash Diet was the leader, followed by (on an average weekly basis) the Sonoma Diet (0.94 lbs), Abs Diet (0.92 lbs) and the GI Diet (0.79 lbs). Though the average weight loss for people following a popular diet was 0.72 lbs a week, those following their own personal diet program achieved an average weight loss of 0.89 lbs. "The out-performance by people doing their own diet is surprising and highlights that determination and support play a big part in getting results," said Moses.

Another interesting review finding was the magnitude of the benefit from complying with your diet closely compared to just following it reasonably. Those who reported that they were sticking to their diet to the letter achieved a rate of weight loss 1.5 times those who just followed it reasonably. The perfect dieters lost an average of 1.87 lbs a week versus the OK dieters who lost 1.25 lbs, highlighting the enormous advantage of being disciplined in your diet approach and management.

When considering the weight loss battle of the sexes, it was the men who shone through. Male dieters lost on average 1.03 lbs a week, versus women who lost 0.78 lbs. In terms of diet performance by age group, there was some support for the commonly held view that metabolism slows with age. Women aged under 29 lost 0.83 lbs a week and the rate of weight loss declined progressively in each subsequent 10 year age range, although the drop off in the rate was not as drastic as one might have expected, with women aged over 60 still losing 0.73 lbs a week. For men on the other hand, there was only modest correlation between age and the rate of weight loss.

Established in 2006, fatsecret is one of the fastest growing online diet communities with thousands of new members joining weekly. fatsecret is uniquely placed to provide perspective on what's happening in the world of dieting. "With this comprehensive Diet Year in Review, we've tried to bring to the surface some important facts and statistics about real world dieting. The key takeaways for people looking to lose weight are that it's never too late start, choose or create a structured diet program that fits your lifestyle and get plenty of support. Studies have shown that dieters lose three times more weight with online support and that's the beauty of fatsecret.com, the most supportive diet community on the planet," Moses said.

For more information about fatsecret and the 2007 Diet Year in Review please contact www.fatsecret.com

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