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Anne Collins Diet: Reviewed

If you ever searched for weight loss information on the web, you've probably come across the site of Irish nutritionist Anne Collins.

The site has an overwhelming amount of pages - although many of the pages seem like they are designed for a search engine rather than a person.

As of January 2012 The Anne Collins Diet isn't available. We recommend The 17 Day Diet instead.

A brief perusal of the site map shows us information repeated over and over. Each of the following phrases has it's own web page (containing a paragraph or two telling us to eat less and exercise more); Fast Weight Loss, Lose Weight, Lose Weight Fast, Lose Weight Forever, Shed Fat, Shed Pounds, Get Lean, Get Leaner, Burn Fat Fast... I think you get the picture. This is spam and is designed to capture as many visitors and lead them to the weight loss program.

What You Get For Your Money

Members-only page

Anne Collins' weight loss program can be ordered on-line for the modest fee of $19.97. Once paid you create your user id, and are given access to the members-only page.

The one-off fee provides you with 12 months access to a private support forum, and access to all of the following eBooks:

Low Carb Diet
A healthy low carb diet for fastest possible weight loss.
14-Day Low Calorie Booster Diet
Short-term 1000 calorie plan for maximum weight loss.
No-Nonsense Balanced Weight Loss Diet
Anne's No-Nonsense Weight Loss Plan.
Low Glycemic Diet
For people who need to lose weight and maintain stable blood-sugar levels.
Cholesterol-Lowering Diet
For people with raised cholesterol.
10-Minute Meals Diet
Ultra-convenient, lots of fast-food options.
Vegetarian Quick-Start Diet
Simple plan for new or experienced vegetarians.
Diet for Life
An easy long term weight loss plan.
Vegetarian Diet for Life
An easy long term vegetarian weight loss plan.

There's a lot of choice there, but Anne Collins also provides a page to help you decide which one to choose.

Pick Your eBook

Cover page of the eBook

I chose the "No-nonsense balanced weight loss diet" and downloaded it. It is a 57 page PDF file containing 28 daily meal plans, snack and fast food options. Each day is made up of 3 meals plus snacks. There are two options for dinner - a home-cooked recipe or a packaged meal - such as Lean Cuisine.

The daily Calorie amounts total approximately 1100 Calories plus snacks. For variation, Anne Collins takes an unusual approach of allowing more Calories based on how much weight you have to lose.

For example; If you are female and have just 11-30 pounds to lose, add 200 calories each day from the snacks list (thus making a daily total of approximately 1300 Calories). If you are male and have up to 20 pounds to lose, add 200 Calories per day.

While I can see some sense in the approach (more calories for a heavier person) - it most definitely wouldn't work for me, and basing Calorie recommendations on how much a person feels they should lose seems a rather inaccurate method. For me personally this would mean just 1300 Calories per day. I know from experience that below 1500 Calories per day I rapidly lose muscle mass!

Exercise

There is mention in passing that recommends exercise, but this is most definitely a diet plan only. Based on some of these Calorie levels, I would find it very hard to have the energy to exercise anyway. Cardiovascular exercises and weight training are an extremely effective part of any weight loss program and need to be given more emphasis.

NOTE: I downloaded another plan - the Low Glycemic Diet - and this had an extensive section on exercise - so perhaps each eBook has evolved over time.

Health Issues

The eBooks make mention of a number of health issues (Diabetes and PCOS) and provides additional recommendations in this area.

Sample Low Glycemic Plan

DAY 1

Breakfast: Traditional Oatmeal, Honey, Seeds and Nuts
Lunch: Tuna and Bean Salad
Dinner: Baked Chicken Breast and Vegetables
Milk Allowance: 1 cup skimmed/fat-free milk

DAY 2

Breakfast: Fruit Yogurt/Smoothie
Lunch: Avocado and Chicken Salad
Dinner: Baked Cod with Mustard Sauce, Green Beans, Carrots and Rice
Milk Allowance: 1 cup skimmed/fat-free milk

Summary

When it comes to price - it seems that Anne Collins would be hard to beat. With a selection of eBooks addressing most nutritional regimes - Anne has all the bases covered. Every meal plan is detailed and comes with many options and substitutes.

This is no eDiets, but does provide a large selection of meal plans and diet ideas to choose from. The Calorie recommendations are a little concerning and certainly for me personally (190 pound male) would spell disaster. Yes I would lose weight but at huge cost to both my metabolism and muscle tone. The 14-Day Low Calorie Booster diet comes in at just 1,000 Calories (only 200 above the medical definition of a Very-Low-Calorie-Diet). The recommendation is to follow it for no more than 14 days - I would say no more than 3 days!

The program will appeal to some, but the large amount of spammy web pages in the main site detract from the appeal. The amount of information available can seem bewildering and lacks cohesion - although the membership is backed by a generous support mechanism (including forums and email to Anne herself).

Compared to many other weight loss eBooks on the market, Anne Collins is a better choice. However I feel other eBook offerings such as Tom Venuto's BFFM are superior. When it comes to nutrition and weight loss - there is no one-size-fits-all - we are all unique and must find what works for us.

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45 Comments

Tracy

Hi,

I take the point that you make but I think that Annes diets are aimed at women mostly. I think that she's great and she really does give personal replies to email qestions. I found her support and the discussion forum really really helpful. I lost the weight that I wanted to and I never felt hungry. I didn't do much exercise except some walking. I'd recommend Annes diet any day.

Crissy

Tracy,
What kind of diet did you pick? Are you still a member? I have been looking for an online diet program, but can't decide. I don't know anyone who has ever tried them personally, and I really don't want to waste my time and money.

Tracy

Hi Crissy,

Only checking back in now. I used the low carb diet. It was great and I lost nearly 20 pounds. I'm not a member any more. Don't need to be :) But I think my password still works. It's only 20 bucks so your downside from a cash point of view is nothing to worry about. The forum is great. I used it for quite a while even after I made my target weight.

Trevor

I joined, and have felt motivated and well served so far. I consider that for the ebooks alone, with their comprehensive diet lists, the low subscription would be worthwhile. Add to this the online 1-2-1 help, the forums and motivation stuff, and this value increases. The pages giving food energy values are free to all anyway. There are also some UK alternative diets given, so Anne is sensitive to the needs of non-US clients. A more complex, more expensive site can just confuse, so I believe this site is reconnemndable. I can't comment on the spam text pages beyond recognising that these are just bait, driven by you-know-who's almost monopolistic domination of web searching.

Jim

Good comments Trevor, and I particularly concur with the comment about Google's domination of web searching. I was using Google to drive the Diet-Blog search... until I discovered that have only index 1/4 of the entries in diet-blog. I switched over to Yahoo who have the whole of diet-blog indexed.

Vern Kirkman

20 bucks doesn't sound like much, but I can't help but think I can get the information free, if I just look for it.

I'm trying to eat right, and have been walking 10,000 steps a day. I'm losing weight fairly slowly, and it's hard to be patient, but the most important thing to me is learning to eat better. I feel better, so I feel like I'm on the right track.

Lindsay

I'm proud of you for making long-term changes!

3fatchicks.com has an extensive forum for almost every diet imaginable, and it's FREE! I used it a lot on the SBD, and found tons of great recipes there.

Missy

Well,
I tried so many yo to diets and nothing works. Until one day I finally lost weight and a lot.
I am 5'5 and 110 pounds, I eat one small piece of chocolate a day and when I overeat one day, I don't gain a weight. It is self discipline, you learn what to eat to keep your weight and ur shape the way u want it.
As far as energy, I still swim on a daily basis one hour.

Shauna Stapleton

After trying almost everything else available I finally tried this program over a year ago. I haven't needed to diet for the last 6 months. I'm sticking at my correct body weight easily. Anne Collins doesn't actually make you diet - she encourages you to make changes to your lifestyle. It took a while but about a month after I joined I realized just how different her approach is. It's all in the head and just don't go hungry. Weird eh? You've got to make sure that you don't feel hungry to lose weight. That was new to me. I don't care how she gets people her site I just hope that anyone that really has a weight problem joins her program. Don't be fooled by the low price. She could get away with charging a lot more. Without a doubt her forum is the best I've ever seen and if you don't believe me you can check it out here: http://www.weight-loss-forum.org/index.htm (There are small black links at the bottom of the page) The forum wasn't open to the public when I was a member and as far as I can see there are still big chunks of it not open but there is enough on show for you to get an idea of how good it is. I found that the key to losing weight was to have the support of people with the same problem. Anne's forum members are the best. For what its worth I definitely recommend Anne Collins.

Jennie

I have been doing a very low calorie diet for 2 weeks. I have lost 9.2 pounds. Which makes me very happy. I have started to exercise and feel really great. I am not hungry. I just choose the best foods to fill me up and are low calorie. Is this bad? I have heard very low calorie diets are bad if you do not have a high bmi.

Joey

Nice!
I'm glad we have all those comments. I'm thinking about buying the Anne Collins Diet. And this was a big help. Thanks everyone.

Annette

Thanks,
I'm going to try Anne Collins Diet and I'm trying to get my mother to do it with me. This info was very helpful.

Suzanne

I am currently a member of Anne Collins forum. I can tell you now that her forum is one of the best things that ever happened to me. We all know how to lose weight. We could all probably write our own diet books. I have known for a very long time how to lose weight, but I have never been successful before. The difference this time is that I have found a wonderful source of support on this forum. All of the people on this forum are people who understand exactly what I am going through. When I have a bad diet day, they are there to encourage me to get back on the program and keep moving forward. When I have a good week and post a really good loss, they are there to cheer me on. I feel like I have found a new family on this forum.
Anne is very flexible with her programs and encourages you to mix and match within her different diets so that you can find the perfect fit for you.
If you are like me, you have probably thrown away tons of money on quick fix schemes and "miracle cures" for your weight loss. I have found that this $20 program is worth more than all of the hundreds of dollars I have spent before. Thanks for reading my comments. Good luck.

Jennifer

I am currently a member of Annecollins weight loss program and I can honestly say it is the best! I have tried everything and this is the only time I have seen results. I started her program tw0 weeks ago and have already lost 8 lbs, thats more than I have lost in a month or two with any other program. I am never hungry and the support from people all over the world is fanominal....I love it and would recommend it to anyone trying to loose, as its not really a diet its a life style change.
I hope this helps anyone trying to loose.

Rina

I totally agree with the other contributors. Anyone that wants to lose weight just has to try annecollins.com. Anne is brilliant at giving the right support when its needed. I've also made some really good friends in the discussion forum. I love it. Best of all is that I am 20 pounds lower than when I joined. No other weight loss program has ever come close.

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