Which Weight Loss Diet Is Best?

Lessons from the Twinkie Diet and the latest science.

The founder of the Twinkie Diet, a professor of nutrition at Kansas State University, lost 27 pounds (12 kg) in two months on a diet of ultraprocessed sweets. He even improved his health marker scorecard: his “bad” (LDL) cholesterol, “good” (HDL) and triglycerides all moved in the right direction.

His secret? Quantity over quality. He limited himself to only 1800 calories worth of Twinkies, rather than his usual 2600 calorie diet.

This article uses the Twinkie Diet, and the latest science, to answer the age old question: Which diet is best for weight loss?

Note: This article focuses on the goal of weight loss, and separates this from the pursuit of long term health. I’ve made the assumption that the optimal strategy for weight loss may not necessarily be the same as the optimal strategy for long term health.

Weight Loss Principle Number One

While I wouldn’t recommend the Twinkie diet, I am not surprised that it worked (at least once). Despite all the hype, how much you eat is a much stronger weight loss driver than when you eat, or what you eat.

I call this critical first principle of weight loss: calories are king and queen…