What is the Mayo Clinic diet score? Understanding the 100-Point System for Sustainable Weight Loss

October 25, 2025 •

4 min read

The Mayo Clinic Diet incorporates a 100-point Diet Score system to provide daily feedback on key health behaviors, helping users make smarter, more sustainable choices. The higher your score, the greater your potential for successful weight loss and long-term health improvements. This tool moves beyond simple calorie counting to focus on foundational habits that create lasting change.

Quick Summary

The Mayo Clinic Diet Score is a 100-point system measuring progress by tracking key behaviors like food choices, exercise, and consistency. It offers personalized feedback to foster lasting, healthy habits for successful weight management.

Key Points

Behavioral Assessment: The Mayo Clinic diet score is a 100-point system that evaluates and tracks key healthy behaviors rather than just calories.
Daily Feedback: It provides members with daily feedback on their food choices, physical activity, and tracking consistency to offer insight into their progress.
Motivational Tool: A higher score signifies stronger adherence to healthy habits, which can motivate users and correlate with greater weight loss potential.
Habit-Based Approach: The score is based on a set of 5 habits to adopt (e.g., healthy breakfast, whole grains) and 5 to break (e.g., mindless eating, excess sugar).
Part of a Larger Program: The Diet Score is a central feature of the Mayo Clinic Diet, a two-phase program ("Lose It!" and "Live It!") designed for sustainable, long-term weight management.

The Mayo Clinic Diet is not a fleeting fad but a comprehensive program focused on building sustainable lifestyle changes. Developed by experts, it uses a two-phase approach rooted in a behavioral science framework. At the heart of its digital program lies the unique Diet Score, an interactive tool that provides daily feedback to guide members toward healthier choices.

The Philosophy Behind the Mayo Clinic Diet

The Mayo Clinic's approach centers on the Healthy Weight Pyramid, a visual guide that emphasizes low-energy-dense foods to help you feel full on fewer calories. The pyramid’s base is piled high with fruits and vegetables, followed by whole grains, then protein and dairy, with fats and sweets making up the smallest portion at the top. This visual hierarchy helps members intuitively understand which foods to prioritize without obsessively counting calories. Daily physical activity is also central to this approach, positioned at the pyramid's core.

Understanding What is the Mayo Clinic diet score?

The Mayo Clinic diet score is a personalized, 100-point system that evaluates your daily adherence to the program’s core principles. It is not a test with a pass/fail grade but a motivational tool that offers insights into your progress. A higher score indicates you are making better choices aligned with the program, which correlates with greater weight loss potential. The score is based on five core behaviors tracked daily within the Mayo Clinic Diet app.

How the Diet Score is Calculated

The score is influenced by a handful of core behaviors, all designed to reinforce healthy habits. These are established during the program's initial “Lose It!” phase and continued throughout the long-term “Live It!” phase. Tracking these habits daily is crucial to receiving consistent feedback and seeing your score fluctuate based on your choices. The scoring system encourages a holistic view of health, rewarding positive dietary decisions and increased physical activity.

The Two Phases: Lose It! and Live It!

The program is broken down into two distinct phases to help users transition to a new lifestyle effectively.

“Lose It!” Phase: The first two weeks are a quick-start program designed to jump-start weight loss, with a potential loss of 6–10 pounds. It focuses on adopting five key habits and breaking five unhealthy ones.
“Live It!” Phase: This phase is the long-term, sustainable portion of the program. It focuses on making smart food choices, understanding portion sizes, and continuing regular physical activity. It offers more flexibility, allowing for occasional treats within a 75-calorie daily limit for sweets or alcohol.

The Power of Habit Change

Central to the program and the Diet Score are the habits you are encouraged to adopt and break. By focusing on these behaviors, the program facilitates lasting change beyond just counting calories.

5 Habits to Adopt

Eat a healthy breakfast: Starting the day with a nutritious meal can help with weight management by reducing hunger later.
Eat more fruits and vegetables: These low-calorie, high-fiber foods form the foundation of the diet and help you feel full.
Eat whole grains: Choosing whole grains over refined ones provides more fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Eat healthy fats: Focus on heart-healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats while limiting saturated fats.
Move for at least 30 minutes daily: Regular physical activity is a crucial component for weight loss and overall health.

5 Habits to Break

No eating while watching TV: This helps prevent mindless snacking and overeating.
Limit snacks (except fruits and veggies): This reduces intake of high-calorie, unhealthy snacks.
Avoid added sugar (especially in phase 1): This significantly reduces unnecessary calorie consumption.
Limit meat and full-fat dairy: The diet encourages leaner proteins and lower-fat dairy options.
No eating out frequently: While not strictly forbidden in the “Live It!” phase, eating at home helps with portion and ingredient control.

How the Diet Score Drives Success

The Mayo Clinic diet score is more than just a number; it is a powerful motivational tool. It provides several benefits to members, all aimed at long-term adherence and success.

Comparison of Mayo Clinic Diet Phases


Feature	'Lose It!' Phase	'Live It!' Phase
Duration	2 weeks	Ongoing for life
Weight Goal	Jump-start, 6-10 lbs loss	Gradual, sustainable loss/maintenance
Sweets/Alcohol	Avoid entirely	Up to 75 calories/day
Habit Focus	Adopting 5, breaking 5	Maintaining and refining habits
Flexibility	Highly structured	Allows for occasional treats

Conclusion: The Diet Score as a Compass

Ultimately, the question of what is the Mayo Clinic diet score can be answered by seeing it as a dynamic, personalized compass for your health journey. It provides immediate feedback on your daily behaviors, helping you understand where you are succeeding and where there is room for improvement. By translating complex nutritional and behavioral principles into a simple, actionable score, it empowers individuals to take control of their health in a sustainable way. The score is a central component of a larger, evidence-based program that offers structured guidance, community support, and tailored meal plans, all backed by Mayo Clinic's medical expertise. As a roadmap for healthier choices, the diet score encourages meaningful and lasting change, one habit at a time.

For more information on the program and to take a free assessment, visit the official Mayo Clinic Diet website.

Frequently Asked Questions

The diet score is calculated based on five core behaviors: eating a healthy breakfast, consuming enough fruits and vegetables, choosing whole grains, limiting unhealthy fats and sweets, and engaging in regular physical activity.

While the Mayo Clinic offers a free Diet Assessment to get your initial score, the interactive 100-point Diet Score and the comprehensive program tools require a paid membership to access.

No, the Mayo Clinic Diet is not based on strict calorie counting. Instead, it focuses on the quality of your food choices, portion sizes based on the Healthy Weight Pyramid, and other healthy habits.

You can improve your score by consistently making healthier choices and adopting positive habits, such as increasing your fruit and vegetable intake, exercising daily for at least 30 minutes, and avoiding mindless snacking.

The Diet Score is for anyone participating in the Mayo Clinic Diet program who wants to monitor their progress, receive personalized feedback, and build sustainable healthy habits for long-term weight loss and health.

The 'Lose It!' phase is an intensive, two-week jump-start for initial weight loss and habit formation. The 'Live It!' phase is the long-term, more flexible maintenance phase for sustained results.

The Healthy Weight Pyramid is the nutritional foundation of the program. Adhering to its principles of prioritizing low-energy-dense foods like fruits and vegetables directly contributes to a higher Diet Score.