Hi — I'm Tom

Why this site exists

A few years ago I went looking for an honest assessment of a weight loss product and could not find one. Every result on the first page was a listicle. Every listicle had the same five products in a slightly different order. And every one of them had a buy button that paid the author more for some products than others — which was mentioned, if at all, in a grey sentence at the bottom of the page.

None of that is illegal. Most of it is not even unusual. But it meant there was no way to tell whether the thing at number one was there because it was good or because it paid the most, and that seemed like a solvable problem.

So the site is built around a simple idea: pick a measure that needs no judgement, apply it to everything the same way, and disclose the money loudly enough that you can weigh it yourself. That measure is how much each company publishes about its own product — every dose, warning, allergen, test result and refund term. It is arithmetic, you can check it against any product page in a minute, and no company can talk its way up the list.

What qualifies me — and what doesn’t

I want to be direct about this, because the category is full of people implying credentials they do not have.

I am not a doctor. I am not a dietitian, a pharmacist, a nurse, or a clinician of any kind. I hold no medical qualification and I am not licensed to give anyone health advice. Nothing on this site is a treatment recommendation for you.

What I actually am is a careful consumer researcher who has spent a lot of time doing one narrow thing: reading what these companies publish about themselves, line by line, and writing down what is there and what is missing. I read peer-reviewed literature as an informed lay reader — carefully, and with an awareness of what I am not equipped to judge. When something is beyond me, I say so in the review rather than guessing.

I have not taken any of the products on this site. Every entry is researched from published sources, and none of it is a hands-on verdict. That is why you will not find a score out of ten anywhere here: a score implies somebody used the thing, and nobody has. If that changes, the reviews will say so explicitly and will state how long for.

That is a real but limited qualification, and I would rather state it plainly than dress it up. If you want medical advice, the person to ask is a clinician who has seen your history. I have written a list of questions worth taking to that appointment.

How the site makes money

Affiliate commissions, and nothing else. When you buy through some of the links here, the seller pays us a percentage. You pay the same price either way.

We do not run sponsored posts, sell placement, accept payment for reviews, or take money to change a ranking. We do not accept free products. As things stand, all 138 supplements and 461 providers on this site pay us nothing at all — there is no affiliate relationship behind any of them, including the featured placement at position one.

That policy costs real money and it is the entire reason the rankings mean anything. The full details are on the affiliate disclosure page, and the method is on how we review.

What I try to be careful about

Weight is not a straightforward consumer category. People arrive at these products from a lot of different places, some of them painful, and a review site can do harm by treating a body like a problem to be optimised.

So a few rules. I do not publish before-and-after photographs. I do not use language that treats weight as a moral matter. I score products down when their marketing does. And I flag products that seem likely to cause harm to someone with a history of disordered eating, because a fair number of them are built in ways that would.

If you are struggling with your relationship with food, a review site is not what you need, and I would rather say that than sell you something.

Get in touch

Corrections, disputes, product suggestions and complaints all go to the same place and I read them. Contact details are here, or write directly to hello@tomsweightlossrankings.com.