As millions seek to ditch the holiday flab, The Daily Beast analyzes the most up-to-date clinical studies on 10 major diets for our second annual ranking of weight-loss effectiveness.

If your list of New Year’s resolutions includes weight loss, you should know that all diets are not created equal. With the promise of fast weight loss comes faster weight regain, just as eliminating entire food groups increases the chances of giving up altogether. So, what diet really works?

In 2010, dieters didn’t even have to chew, as juice cleanses and the baby food diet, both popularized by celebrities, caused many to shun solid food for fast weight loss. Another fad diet best left undone: the junk food diet. Designed by a nutrition professor at Kansas State University, the diet consisted of Twinkies, Ho Hos and Doritos and left him 27 pounds lighter after two months. Even the effectiveness of exercise was called into question.

To once again try to clarify all the conflicting information on weight loss, The Daily Beast revived a resolution from last year involving the latest scientific proof: Let’s figure out, as definitively as possible, which diets really work. Continue reading Most Effective Diets for 2011 →