Everyone knows someone who is dieting, right? At any given time, a quarter to half the population is on some form of diet. To pursue their largely unsuccessful attempts at weight loss, Americans currently spend over $30 billion a year on diet-related products. To put that number in perspective, it was only one billion hours ago we were living in the Stone Age.

As much as we do spend on food in this country, over $2 billion on Halloween candy alone, the amount we spend trying to lose excess weight is equally staggering.

What exactly is a person to do when faced with all of the diverse and often confusing diets available today? They all seem to promise the moon. Many tout simplicity.  And, some are so complex you’d need a medical degree to understand them.

Whichever diet you decide to embrace, know this much: There is no magic bullet. In the end, results vary widely, even among very similar people on the same diet. Alas, I can’t evaluate every diet out there. That would take longer than Internet-warped attention spans would permit.

Instead I’ve picked three diets to review, each with fairly distinct approaches, and added one kat’s perspective to the mix. Here goes.

Read Fiber, Detox & Personality Diets Reviewed