Individuals can lose body weight and improve health status on a wide range of energy (calorie) restricted dietary interventions. In this paper, we have reviewed the effectiveness of the most commonly utilized diets, including low-fat, low-carbohydrate and Mediterranean approaches in addition to commercial slimming programmes, meal replacements and newly-popularized intermittent fasting diets. We also consider the role of artificial sweeteners in weight management. Low-fat diets tend to improve LDL-cholesterol most, whilst lower-carbohydrate diets may preferentially improve triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol, however differences between diets are marginal.