Lost 5 kg in 5 weeks by participating in a diet program where someone else prepares for me all the food. The food is supposed to be balanced, and is divided into 5 meals a day, which should be eaten in intervals of 2-3 hours.

I guess one of the reasons it works is completely giving up all decisions about food. Learned helplessness -- wouldn't expect to see it used for a positive purpose. When you just learn not to think about it, a lot of temptation goes away. There is no "more or less?" nor "this or that?"; you just eat what you get, at the predetermined time, end of story. It's like a precommitment -- with the advantage that the food is physically there (every evening they bring me the food for the next day; on Thursdays they bring also the food for weekend).

It goes pretty far in removing the trivial inconveniences, although -- if someone feels like competing in this area with creating a better program -- I can imagine a few improvements, such as also providing in advance a package of frozen vegetables for the case of sudden temptation.

My most serious objection is that I don't approve some choices of food, and the company gives me no choice about anything. (There are competing companies in my area that offer a choice of food, but don't provide food for weekends; in my opinion that would be much worse, as it would break the habit every week and provide a temptation with leftovers from the weekend.) My contract is till the end of October; and then I will start preparing my own food using the same system. And I will continue to measure my weight to see if my version works.