In the era of the Biggest Loser, the ante for pounds to expect to loose per week has gone up, not that the number ever approached realistic, even before Biggest Loser. People have long had unrealistic expectations for weekly loss - 3, 5, 10 pounds - feed by overpromising diets. Simply AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN if you’re following a sane and sensible weight loss plan!

The longest (2 years) and largest (~800 people) randomized control trial (the gold standard of studies) reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (2/27/09) was designed to answer the seemingly age-old question What’s the Best Diet for Weight Loss? The study was funded by National Institutes of Health and conducted by leading obesity researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and Pennington Research Center in Louisiana.