I am very short (5') and generally maintained a size 10 figure until the dreaded menopause hit 15 years ago. My weight crept up until I was size 16 last year and decided enough was enough. I tried quite a few different diet plans, but as I am pretty much housebound (anxiety and back problems) I won't sign up for anything with weekly meetings, or get much exercise. Eventually I landed on an online meal replacement diet called Slim and Save (as long as others have mentioned specific brands). Firstly, it is no more expensive than groceries (less in my case), you can eat four of their package meals (add water, microwave) per day, or three packs and a meal of 100 gms of meat and 200 gms of vegetables. It took a while to get used to the different meals and figure out the ones I really like, but I started in July and was back to size 12 in mid-September. I also gave up alcohol. I even went on holiday and ate what I pleased, but only gained 3 lbs in two weeks. Just saying - different things work for different people.