12 New Diet Books: Fresh Tips on the Faster Way to Lose Weight

Fastest Way to Lose Weight

It doesn’t matter if you have 10 pounds to shed, or 50: Losing weight is tough. That’s why we hit the books on your behalf — to uncover the most interesting new diet books we could find. From Dr. Phil’s latest manifesto to an updated version of the renowned DASH Diet, there’s something for everyone, just an Amazon order awa

Some of these eating plans will tell you to eliminate sugar; others will instruct you to start eating more fat. And one even hopes you’ll follow the “tapping method” (as in, tapping on your forehead) to help you slim down. We’re not exaggerating when we say your options are endless, when it comes to uncovering the fastest way to lose weight.

But variety is good, because the bottom line is, that finding a nutrition plan that works for you is essential (since, sadly, no amount of burpees will help you out-exercise a bad diet.) Read on to find out which of these new diet books might pave the way for you to shed pounds in 2015. And remember, before you fall in love with one of these plans, it’s always best to check in with your doctor when changing your eating habits, and be sure to set safe and realistic weight loss goals.

12 New Diet Books You Need to Know About

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Bird Street Books, Inc.

1. The 20/20 Diet

Length of diet: 30 days
The premise: Lose weight by eating foods that help you burn calories and feel full.

You’ve seen Dr. Phil McGraw lecture about everything from your mental health to somebody else’s baby daddy drama on TV. But can Oprah’s former BFF help you lose weight, too? In his second diet book, McGraw promises to help you slim down by identifying 20 key foods (think: walnuts, greens, lentils, chickpeas, eggs, etc) that will help your body burn more calories and feel full.

In his signature tough love style, McGraw spouts advice like: “I didn’t say these foods will miraculously melt all the fat off your hips or thighs if you stuff your face with them 24/7.” But his three-phase, 30-day plan focuses on clean eating and portion control — sound tenants of any strategy. You can expect to start your diet with a five-day phase in which you eat only the 20/20 foods prescribed in the diet. But after that, things loosen up to include a wider variety of healthy options. With no major promises that you’ll shed mega pounds in mere days, McGraw simply advises you to repeat the plan until you reach your goal weight.

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Rodale

2. The Sugar Smart Diet

Length of diet: 32 days
The premise: Drop up to 16 pounds and 16 inches in four weeks while simultaneously shrinking your stomach and ditching cravings.

We hate to break it to you, but even if you never eat candy, you’re probably still consuming a heck-of-a-lot of sugar on a daily basis. It hides in your pasta sauce, bread, yogurt — and probably in just about every packaged food you’ve ever bought. Anne Alexander, the editorial director of Prevention magazine, argues that sugar is your waistline’s worst enemy — and the reason why you can’t shed pounds, even if you’re eating a seemingly healthy diet. Her multi-phase plan involves ID’ing all of the secret sugars in your diet, gradually eliminating them, and then slowly re-introducing moderate amounts of the sweet stuff. You’re allowed to consume up to six teaspoons of sugar a day by the end of the diet — the amount most physicians recommend for good health.

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Rodale

3. 20 Pounds Younger

Length of diet: Undetermined
The premise: Lose 20 pounds and you’ll automatically look 20 years younger, too.

Twenty pounds. That’s how much weight you need to shed to significantly improve your health and reduce signs of aging, according to Yahoo Health Editor-in-Chief Michelle Promaulayko’s new book. Geared towards women, this is more of a lifestyle manual than a true diet book. You’ll get advice from an array of experts, ranging from meditation guru Gabrielle Bernstein, to yogi Kathryn Budig and nutritionist Kerri Glassman, RD. The advice hews towards eating clean, limiting carbs and building muscle to look and feel better all-around. Bonus: You’ll come away with skin care tips, strength training routines and stress-busting techniques, too.

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Rodale

4. The HD Diet

Length of diet: 12 weeks
The premise: Never feel hungry while dieting.

The hydrophilic diet, or HD Diet, is based around foods that can absorb up to 12 times their weight in H20. These water-logged wonder foods include chia seeds, oats and water-rich veggies and fruits. Author Keren Gilbert, RD, says eating them will help you stay fuller, longer. No foods are banned for the entire duration of the diet, but the multi-phase plan will probably require good food journaling skills. (There are a lot of rules you’ll need to stick with while dieting the HD way.) The silver lining: There’s no calorie counting.

RELATED: 14 Creative Chia Seed Recipes

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Rodale

5. The Healthy You Diet

Length of diet: Two weeks
The premise: Eliminate foods that cause inflammation and other health problems to feel better and shed pounds.

If you love cleanses, you’ll dig this 14-day detox. Written by Dawna Stone (she beat out Bethenny Frankel on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart and founded Women’s Running magazine), the diet emphasizes clean eating. In the one-week Elimination Phase, you’ll omit one food from Stone’s “Big Seven” list of foods that cause inflammation. Each day, you’ll bid adieu first to dairy, then sugar, wheat, processed foods, artificial sweeteners, red meat and alcohol, until you’re completely free of these bloat-inducing foods. In week two, aka the Clean Phase, you’ll choose healthy meals from a list of recipes free of the Big Seven. And don’t worry, you certainly won’t suffer on this cleanse, which includes tasty dishes like Sesame-Crusted Ahi Tuna and Turkey Chili to stay satiated.

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Rodale

6. The Lean Muscle Diet

Length of diet: Six months
The premise: Lose fat and gain muscle.

Dudes face a unique dilemma when dieting: They don’t necessarily want to look skinnier, just better. This book from Men’s Health magazine offers a solution that will help you build muscle, and get slim without looking scrawny. You’ll follow an 80-10-10 diet comprised of 80 percent minimally processed foods, 10 percent of “healthy foods you like but don’t hate” and 10 percent of anything you want (hello, pizza and beer). You’ll need to do some math, calculating your target body weight, counting calories and managing macronutrients. But you’ll be armed with plenty of sample meal plans and workouts to get you to your goal.

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Adams Media

7. The Tapping Diet

Length of diet: Undetermined
The premise: Utilizing needle-less acupuncture techniques, you can free yourself of emotional eating urges.

We all know we need to consume fewer calories in order to lose weight. But, after a bad day, sometimes it’s tough to resist that second scoop of ice cream, right? The Tapping Diet aims to address the emotional side of dieting by helping you learn how to use “emotional freedom techniques,” like tapping, to free yourself of cravings — and lose weight. You’ll target specific areas, such your eyebrows, the orbital under your eyes and even the top of your head with gentle tapping. There are daily tapping plans laid out in the book, and all you have to do is tap until the emotions triggering those cravings fade. Will it work? We have no clue. But it’s backed by theories used in Traditional Chinese Medicine…and we doubt it could hurt.

RELATED: The 30-Second Trick That Might Stop Your Food Cravings

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: The Crown Publishing Group

8. The Adrenal Reset Diet

Length of diet: 30 days
The premise: Lose nine pounds and up to two inches off your waist by improving the function of your adrenal glands and reducing your cortisol levels.

Are you stressed all the time? Exhausted? Can’t shed weight no matter what? It’s possible that your adrenal glands, which sit on top of your kidneys, have been thrown off kilter by your hectic lifestyle. Devised by endocrinologist Dr. Alan Christianson, The Adrenal Reset diet is about making sure this small gland, which controls many vital processes in the body, is working at its best. How? Carb cycling, which requires you to eat carbohydrates only at certain times of the day, and stick to targeted portions of proteins and fats the rest of the day. Some studies suggest this can help lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in the body, and make it easier for adrenal glands to do their job.

RELATED: Carb Cycling: A Daily Meal Plan to Get Started

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Atria Books

9. The Fast Diet

Length of diet: Undefined
The premise: Severely restrict your calories two days a week to lose weight.

The Fast Diet became all the rage when it was first published in 2013. Now, it’s back, with new science, more recipes and fresh tips. Dr. Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer advocate a plan in which dieters eat normally — when they are hungry, and stopping when they are reasonably full — five days per week. On the other two days, men limit their calories to just 600 per day and women to 500. They argue that studies prove intermittent fasting can help speed weight loss, reduce aging and ease inflammation. Menu plans rich in protein and low glycemic-index foods will help ensure that you’re as full as possible on days when you’re not eating much.

RELATED: 5 Intermittent Fasting Methods: Which One Is Right for You?

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Grand Central Life & Style

10. The DASH Diet: Younger You

Length of diet: 10 weeks
The premise: Shed 20 pounds and 20 years.

The Dash diet has street cred: U.S. News and World Report rated it the #1 Best Overall Diet and Healthiest Diet in 2014. DASH, which stands for the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Diet, has now been redesigned by its original author, Martha Heller, MS, RD, to help slow the effects of chronic aging, too. How? The “plant-focused” plan is packed with antioxidants, and designed to fight inflammation and limit your sugar intake. While we can’t tell you whether it’s comparable to Botox, we can tell you plenty of experts have endorsed it as a great way to shed pounds and lower your blood pressure.

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Rodale

11. The Bulletproof Diet

Length of diet: Undefined
The premise: Lose up to a pound a day by eating a diet high in healthy fats and increase your energy levels. 

Can’t imagine a diet devoid of butter? Dave Asprey’s got your back. The Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and inventor of Bulletproof Coffee, devised a slim-down strategy that focuses on healthy fats. Based on his own research, and his own 100-pound weight loss journey, Asprey’s diet roadmap focuses on lots of veggies, oils, healthy fats and protein, with minimal amounts of fruit, starch and sugar. You’ll be instructed to replace breakfast with a cup of Bulletproof Coffee, limit your protein intake two times a week to reduce inflammation, and eat carbs only in the afternoon and evening. According to Asprey, you’ll sleep better and feel more energized than ever before.

RELATED: Bulletproof Coffee and the Case for Butter as a Health Food

Fastest Way to Lose Weight
Photo: Penguin Random House

12. Zero Belly Diet

Length of diet: 14 days
The premise: Lose up to 16 pounds…drop 10 pounds in 10 days…shave seven-inches off your waist in just weeks.

Whether you call it a spare tire, love handles or a potbelly, stomach fat is just plain bad for your health (not to mention the way your jeans fit). Known as visceral fat, the pudge that sits on your belly is made up of the most dangerous type of fat cells. It puts you at risk for a whole host of diseases including inflammation, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, heart disease and cancer. Now, David Zinczenko, author of the Eat This, Not That series, and editor at Men’s Fitness says he can help you blast it away. Using a variety of diet techniques, from eating only plant-based foods until dinner, to focusing on foods that might make you genetically less susceptible to gain, this plan promises a quick solution to a big problem. Disclaimer: Two weeks might get you started, but it’ll take a lifetime of healthy eating to keep that fat gone for good.

Disclosure: All products featured on our site are hand-picked by our editorial team in the hopes of getting you closer to your health and fitness goals. We only recommend products we love and believe that you will, too. In some cases, you might come across an affiliate link on our site, which means we receive a small commission should you decide to make a purchase.

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