But is diet delivery right for you? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Here are some quick facts to help you decide:

What Is It?

Diet delivery services prepare diet meals for you and ship them to your home either daily, weekly or monthly. Meals are prepared according to your preferences and then delivered to your door either fresh or frozen.

What Kind of Meals Can You Choose From?

Services may offer one specific menu or a variety of diet options. For example some services offers Zone meals, low carb, vegetarian, low fat, kosher or even diabetic friendly meals.

Some services ask you to fill out a profile and then tailor a specific menu to your personal goals, situation and lifestyle. Others allow you to choose meals from pre-set menu lists.

How Does It Work?

Depending on the service you can get your meals delivered to your home once a month, once a week, or even daily. You can also have your meals shipped to your office.

You can choose to have breakfast, lunch and dinner delivered or just gourmet lunches and dinners. Many plans also let you include snacks.

Most diet food delivery services will let you choose your preferences online and then order. In a couple of business days you should receive your food for that week.

In general, meals come prepared with heating instructions on the packaging. In many cases you also get bonus gifts like free meals or weight loss instruction booklets and tools.

Will I Lose Weight?

Yes - if you follow your chosen program. Most services state that their clients lose from 2-5 pounds per week, depending on age, gender, level of activity, etc.

Recent studies show that people have more success losing weight with diet delivery than they do with traditional diets. This makes sense - when all of the work is done for you, it's easy to lose weight.

Plus with chef-prepared, gourmet meals you don't have that sense of deprivation that sabotages most dieting efforts. You also don't have the frustration of driving to the store, searching for the right food, going home and taking the time to prepare it yourself.

In most cases you just choose your meal from fridge, heat for 5-10 minutes and enjoy.

How Much Does It Cost?

These days, with larger services able to offer lower prices, delivery services are much more affordable than they used to be. Plans start from under $20 a day (which is what many people spend on food anyway). You can even get gourmet plans which cater to specific needs or allergies for about $30-$35 a day.

Some plans offer discounts if you order monthly (vs. weekly) and some even offer free meals when you sign up.

Also, many delivery clients feel that the time they save every day by having their meals delivered more than pays for itself.

Would it Suit You?

Diet meal delivery is not for everyone. It obviously wouldn't suit someone who loves to cook their own meals. It also may not be for you if you have the time to do your own shopping and diet food preparation.

However, if you are constantly on the go, have trouble sticking to a diet on your own or just want that extra help in losing weight, you may find diet delivery works best for you.

One note of caution: do your homework before you decide on a diet food delivery service. There are several services out there - but they all offer unique options. By researching what's out there before you make a final decision, you can save money, find the best plan for you and really enjoy losing weight.