In yesterday’s announcement from US News and World Report’s Best Diets 2024, Biggest Loser took two top spots. Yes, the diet often bashed by critics for what they “see” on TV and not necessarily what they’ve researched received high honors.
First, the list tied Biggest Loser with DASH Diet, also named 2024’s best diet, as the Best Diabetes Diet. Then, it was ranked number two, behind Weight Watchers, as one of the Best Weight-Loss Diets.
The review, completed by a volunteer team of 22 renowned experts, ranked Biggest Loser based almost entirely on the plan outlined in the book Biggest Loser’s 6 Weeks to a Healthier You. Cheryl Forberg, RD was the original co-author, along with Dr. Michael Dansinger, and the author of this book.
“I am thrilled that this review was based mostly on my 6 Weeks to a Healthier You book, which has the most comprehensive and solid science on the plan as well as the ingredients selections,” she told us after hearing the news.
Forberg was the primary dietitian on the show, working with each contestant behind the scenes since season one. Late last year, at the end of season 12, she announced she was leaving Biggest Loser to pursue other work, including growing her Flavor First brand.
“I feel so humbled to be acknowledged in this way by this group of people,” Forberg remarked. She wasn’t initially aware that such esteemed experts of the health and nutrition community were the ones researching her program. The Best Diets 2024 included such names as Brian Wansink of the Cornell University Food and Brand lab and Dr. David Katz of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.
We couldn’t agree more with either recognition for the diet, as the Biggest Loser diet is one that promotes clean eating, with little to no processed or refined foods and sugars. Lean proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and plenty of exercise make it an obvious choice.
Much to Forberg’s disappointment, her role in the show was never broadcast in front of the cameras as much as she would have liked, in order to educate viewers more, and give them more than a one-dimensional perspective of what the Losers go through on the ranch. The part of her job at Loser that she would have changed was that she “wished I could have reached more people.” However, in her book, she’s able to reach the masses.
While the eight-hour-a-day workouts that the contestants go through on the ranch, that are intense by anyone’s definition, may come across as extreme, the diet is not. If you want to eat like a Loser, and enjoy healthful weight loss that is sustainable, then you won’t find many plans better suited than the Biggest Loser diet, as described in 6 Weeks to a Healthier You.