Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Carol’s Corner. Hoping you find this font easier to read. No matter what it looks like when I type it, it doesn’t look the same when it is published. It has been a rather frustrating issue for me and have yet to come up with the perfect solution. We took my picture by the side of our house again. Like the floral backdrop. Today is another of my casual looks. Just simple and comfortable. I have a number of pieces that are black and white and can be worn multiple ways in different combinations. Today’s name came to me almost immediately. Calling this, ” Diamond’s Are A Girl’s Best Friend.”

I chose jewelry from a couple different sets I have made. I think all three pieces were from different three piece sets, but they work together well.

This is one of my favorite FiBit combos when I wear black/white combinations. Tomorrow you will see a new manicure. You can probably see where they’ve grown. We’re leaving for a trip late Sunday night and will be gone for about a week and a half, so got my monthly hair appointment the other day and Friday get both a manicure/fill and a pedicure. Probably will get somewhat matching again. As long as my cell service works I will be blogging every day if possible and posting in the Facebook groups.

So I’ve decided to do a series of sorts. Not sure how it will work till I am actually in the middle of doing it. That is usually how I approach things. I’m going to try and compare the top 5 Weight Loss Programs. I am going to do an overview first and then work from there. The publication I have decided to use for this is The US News and World Report in the health section. Later as we go along, I will probably link you to other things on the same subject, so you can examine other diets for yourself. So let’s start with what they rated as the top 5 weight loss diets. They actually rank many more so I will give you the link to this at the end of our series, and you can read about all the other diet programs they ranked. It looks like there are many pages of them. Here are what they ranked as the top 5.

#1. With 3.8 out of 5 stars-Weight Watchers-Might I say I am in no way surprised by this. They have been the leader in the weight loss field for a very long time.

#2. With 3.6 out of 5 stars-The HMR DIET

#3. With 3.5 out of 5 stars-The Biggest Loser Diet

#4. With 3.5 out of 5 stars-Jenny Craig

#5. With 3.5 out of 5 stars-Raw Food Diet

Here is their introduction to the rankings.

The best diet for losing weight is Weight Watchers, according to the experts who rated the diets for U.S. News. HMR Diet, Biggest Loser, and Jenny Craig came in close behind. Other diets performed as well or better in enabling fast weight loss, but long-term weight loss is more important to your health.

Next I will explain what the experts have to say about all of the five diets, and then each subsequent day I will concentrate on the individual diet, starting in the order of their ranking. So there will probably be five more days after this post.

WEIGHT WATCHERS

This popular points-counting diet helps dieters drop pounds and keep them off. In expert’s ratings, Weight Watchers bested all other ranked diets for both short-term and long-term weight loss. That doesn’t guarantee it will work for everyone, of course. It’s average rating of “moderately effective” for long-term weight loss reflects the difficulty dieters have in staying on the wagon, even when using the best weight-loss diet available.

HMR DIET

The HMR Diet snagged a top spot in this category. ( This is one I have never actually heard of, so will be learning something totally when we cover this one.) It’s rigorous approach ” can be effective with motivated clients who have failed more flexible dieting approaches”, one expert said, nodding to the meal replacements and option for medical supervision. ” This is one of of the better researched diets. It’s existed for more than 30 years and is supported by hospitals and medical clinics”.

BIGGEST LOSER DIET

This plan, built around healthy food and regular exercise ranked behind only Weight Watchers in the overall weight-loss category. The experts agreed that calorie restriction and physical activity should work for dieters. They rated Biggest Loser a very effective way to keep weight off in the short-term, and concluded that it works moderately well over the long-term.

JENNY CRAIG

As a weight-loss diet, Jenny Craig outranked nearly all of it’s competitors. Experts appreciated, among other aspects of the program, the value of the emotional support provided by it’s weekly one-on-one counseling sessions. A few experts, however, questioned whether the dieters can expect to keep the weight off once they’re weaned from the diet’s prepackaged, portion-controlled foods. Though not factored into it’s rankings, Jenny Craig’s cost is relatively high.

RAW FOODS DIET

The diet can deliver both short-term and long-term weight loss, experts concluded, since raw foodists typically eat fewer calories than most other people. But such a restrictive, labor-intensive diet certainly isn’t for everyone.

So over the next five days we will see just how these diets work and will have some good links to use for each one, including links to recipes and reviews. Think this is awesome. And at the end I will give you the link to this entire report which had many other diets included in the rankings. I’m actually pretty excited to have a blueprint of what’s coming up on Carol’s Corner. I hope you all will be looking forward to the next installment. Oh and by the way, thank God I had no technical difficulties tonight. Stay focused, stay motivated, and move, move, move!! Till next time, God Bless.