Popular since the 1970s, Scarsdale diet books offer a clear plan to help you lose weight fast.

Inside the Scarsdale diet books you'll find a highly structured meal plan - for the first 14 days you follow a very specific program, then for the second 14 days there are still certain foods to eat, but it is less structured.

Weight loss is almost guaranteed if you follow the Scarsdale diet book, as this is a very low calorie diet, averaging around 700 calories per day.

Some of the main features of this plan include eating a grapefruit for breakfast each day in order to supply fat burning enzymes, and replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners.

The downside of a program like this is that unless you change your eating habits when you finish the plan, you will simply put the weight back on. However, there are a number of features that make this plan popular, including no need to count calories or grams of fat, and no limit on portion sizes.

If you are looking for rapid weight loss to get you jump started, this is a plan worth considering - it has worked for millions of people worldwide over the past several decades.