We signed up with eDiets and to see what they’ve got to offer.
Florida-based eDiets have been around since the early days of the Internet (started in 1996), and boast an incredible amount of members – over 2 million (over the duration of eDiets history).
They have connections in high places (including this interview with US president Bush).
eDiets have been ranked as the #1 Most Trafficked Health, Fitness & Nutrition Site, and been voted “Best of the Web”in the diet and nutrition category by Forbes.
However recent years have not been so good for eDiets — with revenues dropping as they face more competition in the weight loss space. Their Meal Delivery program has bucked the trend, with both increasing revenues and customer retention.
That said, what are they really like?
The sign-up to eDiets starts with a profile — you select your goals and preferences. You can choose from a number of newsletters (or decline altogether). eDiets will then recommend a particular weight loss plan for you. This will be one of the following:
- Glycemic Impact Diet
- eDiets.com Weight Loss Plan
- Mediterranean Diet
- Fresh Prepared Meal Delivery (5 or 7 day program)
OTHER DIETS:
- Seasonal Diet (meal plans vary depending on season)
- Living With Type 2 Diabetes Plan
- Heart Smart Plan
- Low Sodium Plan
- Cholesterol-Lowering Plan
- High Fiber Plan
- Hypoglycemia/Low Sugar Plan
- Healthy Soy Plan
- Vegetarian Diet
- Lactose-Free Plan
- Low Fat Diet Plan
- Wheat-Free Meal Plan
What Comes with the Diet
Each plan comes with a full set of features including; access to a personal trainer, exercise and fitness plans, recipe database, member forums and message boards.
One notable feature is the access to registered dietitians.
Costs
eDiets have a straight subscription price for any diet: $4.74 per week – billed monthly (that’s 18.95 per month). If you cancel before 3 months is up, you will be charged a $25 fee. Children under 13 are not permitted to sign-up, and teenagers between 13 and 18 need parental permission. Membership is restricted to US & Canada.
Weight Loss Approach
eDiets focus on providing meal plans that will lead to weight loss of up to 2 pounds per week. Central to their approach is that of mutual support. The have a weight loss guarantee (if you don’t lose weight within 6 months you get 6 months membership free). As part of this you must weight on monthly, and interact with the support message boards at least once per month.
eDiets have done the research and have discovered that those who are most connected to the community have the highest chance of reaching weight loss goals, and will not fall off the program.
Caveats and Cons
NOTE that there is a minimum 3 Month sign-up period. You will be charged $25 if canceling before 3 months. However this is a good incentive to stick with the program.
What Makes eDiets Different?
On-line weight loss is a crowded space. One of the features of eDiets is the ability to access individual support from experts (trainers and dietitians).
Opinion
Anecdotally, eDiets works. A look around various opinion sites shows that people have lost weight with eDiets, and bad reviews are rare. The tools are good, but as time has gone on eDiets has been facing more and more competition in the online diet sector.
Are eDiets Really Worth It?
Yes – they are. Even if only subscribing for a quarter, it is a great way to educate yourself on nutrition and a weight-maintaining lifestyle.
Meal Delivery
The eDiets meal delivery program goes from strength to strength and may well be the most popular way of losing weight at eDiets. Fresh Prepared has two options: 7 day delivery, or 5 day delivery. Costs are about $24 per day. See more about Meal Delivery here.
E DIETS IS A SCAM!!! BEWARE!!!! Just signed up to EDIETS and was charged for 2 weeks $280 and still have not received any food at all!! Customer service is extremely horrible. They Will not refund my money this is fraud!!! BEWARE OF EDIETS!!!
Ediets is not a scam nor is it a fraud. They have been around for over 10 years and there are many satisfied customers. You obviously had a bad experience but your experience wouldn’t be considered typical. If you paid with a credit card for can dispute the charges and have them reversed.
eDiets is the worst. Poor customer service. STAY AWAY. Food is late, wrong and then they wont let you cancel. They are not even accredited by the Better Business Bureau after having a F rating.
Ediets is a rip off. I did not carefully read the fine print and even after I did was still confused. Thought I paid for a month and then found out it was only for a week! They charge an outrageous amount weekly! More than I spend on groceries for my entire family (of 4)!! and the food is not that good- actually very bland and does not heat well. If you want frozen meals for the day- buy them yourself from the grocery store- much cheaper and better tasting.
I agree! Just found out that I will be paying more than my whole paycheck! And I have kids to feed! When I tried to cancel was told that I would have to pay the 100 dollar fee on top of the original fee for canceling..boy..do I feel stupid!!
Drak Phoenix,
i had a similar situation to you.i just wanted to lean out so called to ask for some info and the rep i got on the phone clearly said the plan was 1200 cal/day.she also said they have a mens plan that is a little bit higher in calories.i didn’t get it in the end because this plan is for overweight people trying to lose weight not for people on tough fitness programs so im surprised about your comment
Debra:
After finally quitting smoking with the help of Chantix, my next goal is weight loss. Me. like you, hopped on the internet to research eDiets after viewing their tv commercials. Frustrated that I could not view their menu without the BILLING INFORMATION screen popping up everytime I spoke to an online customer service rep. Starting at $21 per day, I could sign up today. $147 just for ME to eat – I still have others in my family to feed. I could not get any additional information from customer service online as to pricing, promotions etc…However, she did (Georgette) mention that if I signed up today, my first shipment would be 50% off, $86/week. Great! Problem…weight loss doesn’t happen overnight, so I asked Georgette to supply me the LONG HAUL cost. Until I am completely informed of the program, I do not want to hand over my credit card information. I ended our Chat Session and looked for reviews on eDiets and ended up here. As a consumer, I would be extremely leery of purchasing without seeing the product first. I have read many reviews that this plan is the next best thing to sliced bread – but unfortuantely eDiets Marketing Department needs to take an Advertising 101 class – back to basics guys.
Now, Now I think $700 is a bit of a stretch, it’s at most $180 plus shipping for a 7 day plan for men.
terrible terrible terrible.
you spend all of this time putting together your menu, only to be sent whatever they have a surplus of, my 2nd order had not one single item I ordered, and there wasn’t decent snack, all tiny bits of trail mix and “spicy snacks” whatever that is. not to mention that they do not disclose what the actual price is which turns out to be about 700$ a month for one person to eat, a bunch of crappy food that you didn’t order. when I found out how much it was, I called to cancel, they said no problem and sent me a confirmation # then the following week, I recieved an email saying my next shipment was on the way. I called to make sure this was just a computer glitch and that my bank account was not going to be charged again and they assured me it would not be. well, the next day I check my account and it was charged again, I called to talk to a supervisor “bob” to get the charges reversed, he refused to even let me finish a sentence was very rude and every time I tried to say anything to him he threatened to hang up on me. horrible customer service! and I hope the better business bureau gets them! ~ a very unhappy customer
I tried e-diets because I am extremely busy, and I don’t have time to prepare diet meals in addition to meals for the rest of my family. I tried nutri-system in the past, and it worked, but the food that did not require refrigeration was a turn off, plus I still had to prepare my own side dishes. E-diets seemed perfect. Until I got the food. I’m really not a very picky eater, and I have to say that about 25% was decent, 50% tolerable, and 25% I just couldn’t eat. The vegetables were mushy and spongy, and all of the egg dishes (and there are a lot) were rubbery, watery, and all flavored with the same spices, which I was not a huge fan of. I will say that it’s well-balanced, and filling, but that’s IF you can eat it. I have only been on ediets for 2 weeks, and I’ve lost 5 lbs, but from this point, I’ll be losing the rest of my 15 lbs to get to my goal by eating Lean Cuisines from the grocery store – they’re far better tasting, and much less expensive as well.
This e diets don’t work i tell you why i been on that diet for 4 month all i lost was 5 lb
I mean I can’t get this friggin weight off my body!!! Why isnt it working?
I cannot believe The Biggest Loser would actually endorse such a horrible food program! The best thing about this food plan is the customer service. The food is horrible. I had what was supposed to be a Canadian bacon/egg/cheese breakfast sandwich this morning. The bread was wet & soggy from soaking up the moisture from the other food, and the Canadian bacon was almost microscopic in size! The taste? AWFUL! I cancelled after only the first week…and have gone to BistroMD.com, where the food is GREAT & the service is even better!
I tried ediets for 3 weeks and also tried a couple different plans. I honestly think you get what you pay for and that’s not much. There is not much variety in the meal plans and the database to look up recipes was hard to find. I’ve done weight watchers in the pastand would recommend their site over this one. It allows the flexibility to look up and submitt recipes. Yeah ediets takes the guess work out but it gets super monotonous. Use weight watchers take an hour a week to plan out your own recipes (there are free recipe planning charts online just google) and sign up for spark people or myfitnesspal (both are free calorie counters)!
That’s my two cents
I agree whole heartedly with anonomously. Same thing happened to me. The meals are terrible, web site is hard to use, and the service is the worst. Don’t use ediets, they just want your money.
That $25 cancellation fee is definitely hidden. I signed up and realized the program on line wasn’t something that was going to work for me, some days I was too busy to even log on my computer. I realized I needed a book and a hard copy journal. Nothing against the program, it looked realistic. However, when I cancelled I was taken aback by the $25 fee. There’s no way cancelling a membership from an online business would cost them that much. Totally a rip off of their customers and kind of a slap in the face I didn’t appreciate and soured me on the whole thing.
Competition……..Medifast costs half as much, is set up in a pyramid system so that physicians and nurses profit and are motivated to sell to clients (sort of an Amway principle). Johns Hopkins carries a prestiguous name. If ediet wants to prosper, (fresh over dehydrated is always more appealing), the cost to customer has to come down to compete more effectively for the SAME results. Also, has to set up a profit motive system for health care providers.
Agree, stay away from the meal delivery plan. Ediets has recently changed their packaging and policies. The packaging is now flimsy and it is common to receive meals in damaged containers that have to be thrown out. They are also substituting meals in place of the meals you order, so you have no idea what you are going to get.
Thank you for your comments!! I too was hooked on the fresh meal delivery concept but will not join after reading how disappointing this program is. If EDiets is so confident in their product, why won’t they allow you to review their full menus and have a better cancellation policy?? THANK YOU!
STAY AWAY! What they don’t tell you about their meal plans and shopping list is that the recipes don’t work together so you have to buy an ingredient just so you can use a tablespoon of it and never need it again. The meals don’t work together and it will get VERY expensive to follow their recommended meal plans. They also make you sign a 3 month agreement (hidden in the fine print) and charge you a $25 early cancellation fee if you cancel early because you don’t like their service. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCAM OPERATION!
A total SCAM!!! you sign for one month and then they renew automatically. They don’t have options for just one month. Call them to inform that you don’t want automatic renewal and they charge you 25 dollars. SCAM, BIG SCAM
Breakfasts are OK but most of the rest of the food is horrible. It’s hard to believe that they’re able to stay in business.
I agree, I think ediets (if you order the food from them is awful). I got chronic stomach aches, canceled my order, told me it was too late and charged me for another week. I recieved that box damaged and some of the food was bad. I thru the whole box in the dumpster. I called ediets and was told to take pictures of the box and all its contents, but was not about to dig it out of the dumpster! I was to email the pics to them!
Now to the food…You have VERY little food selection, and when you make changes, they MAY make changes dependent upon supply. If you hate something, you may get it anyway, even if you call to have it replaced. Your lucky if you call and are not on hold 10+ minutes. Replies to emails take up to 5 days (atleast mine did). The chat online system was ALWAYS down when I tried..help was NOT easy to find (unless it’s to sign up or pay money).
Now the food, it was extremely bland and awful. I did like the morning muffins. Often the meat was very tough. It did not seem like fresh food. The little bags of carrots were always brown and bad. When I signed up, I made it clear I did not eat beef. I received beef every week, even after calling 3 times about it (one time I hung up I was on hold so long). They again told me that dependent upon supply, they may have to send it. This leaves the consumer very little choice from week to week. It’s one of the worst diet plans I have ever tried, and for $162 A WEEK, I would expect the food to be good! DO NOT USE EDIETS. I started to dread eating on this diet fearing how bad the food would be. It doesn’t look anything like on the commercials..Trust me.
I tried the food shipment. I was very dissapointed in the small selection and the fact that I could not view the menue before pluncking down my credit card. Once I saw the menu selection I decided it was not for me..(scant selection). Once you put down that credit card you cannot stop that first shipment, if you don’t like the selection. Read the fine print, I missed it..
Received the food, very well packed and the food was quite tasty. Canceled due to scant foods available.
Very expensive but for “fresh” food guess it would have been worth it for better selection. lew
eDiets just flat out lied to me. I am a 6’0″ 170 lbs man just trying to tone up. I wanted to use eDiets in conjunction with P90X. Firstly, after a billing issue that is a whole other story, I was told I would be getting weekly deliveries. I made it VERY clear that since I am very active (working out 6-7 times a week) that I would need at least a 2000-2500 calorie count a day. I was assured that I would get this. Well.. when the meals can they look unusually small but I ignored it… until after eating each meal and working out I felt dizzy and nauseous. I KNEW I didn’t have enough calories. I ended up eating 2 more meals just to feel better. Second day was the same thing. After working out I was almost sick… then this time add in a headache. So I called eDiets and they told me that I was getting a calorie count of 1350 a day (!!) That’s almost half of what I need! I was furious! The whole reason I even signed up for the service was because I was specifically told that I would get my daily 2000-2500 calorie count a day. So I called and told them they would need to cancel my account because of misinformation and I was told they wanted to charge me an additional $25 for canceling early..! WTF! This company is seeming more and more like a scam everyday.
Robert – you’re an idiot and your probably a miserable person
just seen the info commerical, came online to look it up and i don’t like the idea of not being able to look at a menu selection, as well as they want your credit card info. before giving out any info. on the menu or the delivery, or on any plan they had to offer. Iam sure glad i found this site before it was to late. thanks for all your input. most of us are on the same page.it might be a good diet plan and it may work. but they may need to re-think their executation. monies are tight.
Interesting reading here.. glad I didn’t just sign up.
In patroling the web, the one thing that really struck me is their HUGE advertising and promotional budget. It is also clear that they pay for and plant reviews in many places around the web as a part of their campaign.
It is hard to tell as you read around the web just what of the positive reviews are honest and what is planted.. much of it is glowing, ebulient raves in favor of the plans.. never a negative mention in spite of the negatives found easily.
This kind of thing always triggers a flag for me (and I will say this kind of “web seeding” is becoming very common, especially for the “big marketing” organizations).
“Hidden” in the ToS??? Where exactly should eDiets have put the information so that it wouldn’t be hidden?
I mean really; if you are going to agree to something but not read what you are agreeing to who’s fault is that?
Answer – look in the mirror!
I have been using the eDiets Digital plan for over 8 weeks now and I have lost 32 lbs with their Glycemic Impact Diet. I love it and would highly recommend it to anyone. Their menus take all the guess work out of dieting and for a little under $18 per month, I think it can’t be beat. I dont have to do alot of guess work and I dont have to be a part of embarrassing meetings and weigh-ins, like when I used to be with Weight Watchers. I love them
Laurie:
What a terrible and heartless response. Nobody reads all of the agreements flashed on the screen as we go around the Internet.
That $25 charge should not be there at all, and further, it should not be “HIDDEN” in the terms of service.
All fees should be disclosed up front, in LARGE LETTERS, on the site, not hidden in legal docs.
Laurie – if you are a real person, you cannot honestly believe what you wrote.
What do meal delivery folk think of the new menu? I am very disappointed in both taste and selection compared to the older menu. I ready today that ediet is posting some major losses in profit… and i’m wondering if they are cost cutting on food quality also? (I have lost about 25 lbs so far.. but not sure if I will stick with the new food items)
that is crazy i am not sure when that happened to you but they have a whole new system that is very accurate now and everyone is very helpful. i was overcharged once and they fixed it right away with no issues. there meal delivery is incredible also… not sure if you tried it yet but they have a new ceo, new technology, etc… it is fantastic, affordable, and will make you successful for once in loosing weight.
oh my gosh… we love ediets, the fresh meal delivery is incredible. The food comes to your door FRESH… once a week and it makes it sooooo easy to loose the weight. The food is fantastic and I do not have to cook. it is only 19$ a day and so i am saving money compared to my normal lunches out and stopping at the store for dinners, etc.. i have lost 12lbs so far and I love it. Much easier than cooking and wasting food. and also you are not tempted to pick up something bad for you at the store. try it.. you will love it. BTW don’t try nutrisystems it is awful. dried, processed food that takes like a gallon of salt and cardboard.
I joined eDiets and used it for years. I like the community and the fee isn’t very high. I liked the support boards mostly, Julia Havey’s was the best. She emailed me and even sent me her book for free. I think she really cares about us, because she was once obese, too.
I have been disappointed because all of the experts are suddenly gone. They have a bunch of nutritionists, but it’s like the personality is gone from the site/company.
Anyone else feel like that?
i did eDiets and loved it. i loved the recipes and the shopping lists.. but all the recipes served 1… i was doing this with my family so i needed it to serve 3, doing the math was annoying.
also the amount of ads started to get on my nerves. i had dial-up at the time so the pages would take forever to load, even when i was using the accelerator provided by my ISP.
i did stick with it for about 6 months, when i’d get tired of one diet, i’d switch to another. i started with the Glycemic Impact diet which took off about 20 lbs. but i got bored with the menu options, so i jumped around trying the Mediterranean diet and the eDiets diet before finally letting my 1 year membership elapse.
i also wish it let me preview the exercise program that’s included in the annual membership. one look at it, and after i was done laughing and picked myself off the floor, i decided i would never use it as the workout provided was much too simple for my former varsity athlete and dancer self.
the recipe club is great too. i got many recipes off there as well.
eDiets is good if you’re dieting on your own and love to cook. but if you’re bringing the family along, it’s rough.
I have been with ediets for 4 years. It has been worth it.
I started with a 5000 calorie binge habit that was 2-5x/week. I am now down to about a 500 calorie binge when I am overstressed, and rarely more than 2x/week at this point.
I had a 100+ ounces of caffeine in soda habit also. I am now soda free and caffeine free.
I lost 37#, then got stupid and gained 61#, and am currently down 27#.
I am exercising.
I am drinking water.
I use the plan for support.
I use the meal planning to keep me for impulse buying junk.
I have learned to PLAN AHEAD to be successful.
With learning my new habits, I was able to quit a job I hated and apply for a job I love.
Was it worth it? Yes. I have made friends who check up on me and care that I am keeping myself accountable.
When on a trip, I was able to make appointments to meet several for meals.
I am now totally out of my size 3x. I have just purchased a skirt with a zipper and NO ELASTIC WAISTBAND.
Was it worth it? yes. But I investigated BEFORE I signed up. I went ONLINE and looked to see what was offered in other places. I went and found what the price for WW and Jenny Craig were in comparison.
I am currently STILL with ediets. And I am also on the Sparkpeople.com site.
It depends on you. Can you be successful in modifying yourself, or do you need to physically be with other people to make sure you are committed you changing you?
Just my 2cents.