In this article, I’m going to guide you step-by-step through the best diet plan to lose weight forever.
I’m going to cover how to setup your calories and macro numbers, track your body fat loss progress, make adjustments to your diet plan as necessary, develop healthy lifestyle habits and approach the whole process with a healthy mindset.
Let’s get into it!
Hey! I’m Juhee.
I’ve been seriously working out since I was 15 years old. And I spent years trying to figure out why I didn’t look like someone who did. No matter what I did – strength training, high intensity interval training, sprinting, etc – I never actually looked like I trained hard.
But after years of experimenting, I finally did it. I figured out the best diet plan to lose weight. And once I understood the process, I decided that I needed help others do the same. So they would never have to go through the years of trial and error I did.
Check out my friend, Vidya, who joined my online coaching program close to 6 months ago –
My client, Peggy –
And Sarah –
It is possible for you to get these same results! All you have to do is apply the steps I go over in this guide on the best diet plan to lose weight.
Let’s get started!
The Best Diet Plan To Lose Weight Forever
The mistake I made for years was relying solely on my workouts to lose weight. But I only began to see results when I started changing my nutrition.
Now working out, specifically strength training is very important to the fat loss process. And if you have no idea where to start with it, you can learn more and grab your free strength training programs here.
While working out is a must, without an appropriate diet plan, your workouts will show no effect.
And that’s why I wrote this guide on the best diet plan to lose weight. Because you have to go beyond the simple advice of “eat less.”
If you want sustainable weight loss that results in improvements in how your body looks, feels & performs, then your diet plan has to be setup so it’s suitable for you – your goals, your lifestyle and your preferences. It should allow you to make permanent lifestyle changes and develop new healthy habits.
The Numbers
Other guides on the best diet plan to lose weight may tell you there are certain “do’s” and “dont’s.” You’ve heard them before – don’t eat past 7 pm, eat every 2-3 hours, don’t eat any sugar, start intermittent fasting, eat this “fat burning” food, etc.
But that’s where they’re guiding you all wrong. I tried all those things! And I can tell you wholeheartedly they don’t work. Meal timing and meal frequency, cutting out specific foods or food groups, diets with names… these things just don’t matter!
Losing weight comes down to the numbers! Simple as that.
Let me tell you a bit about my online coaching client, Meera.
She came to me with the idea that she was missing something. She said, “Juhee, I eat healthy and workout daily, but I’m not seeing any progress.”
I explained to her that just because she’s eating healthy and exercising, doesn’t mean she’s eating an appropriate amount of calories to lose weight.
And when she started focusing on adjusting her calorie intake, well this picture definitely speaks a thousand words. She realized that simply eating healthy and working out wasn’t going to get her any closer to her goal. She had to adjust how much she was eating.
1. Calories
A calorie deficit is the first step. And in order to create a calorie deficit, you have to consistently eat less calories than it takes to maintain your current weight. In other words, your calorie input (how much you eat) should be less than your calorie output (how much your burn).
There are 4 components that contribute to how many calories you burn in a day. Listed in order of their contribution to your total daily calorie expenditure…
- Resting Metabolic Rate – the calories you burn at rest
- Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis – the calories you burn by being active outside of structured exercise
- Thermic Effect of Food – the calories you burn to digest and process food
- Exercise – the calories your burn when you’re working out
Now although the “calories out” side of the equation does matter, it’s impossible to calculate how many calories you are burning. So as long as you’re supporting that side of the equation by being active everyday, eating enough protein and strength training, you should be good to go.
The main focus of your weight loss diet plan should be on adjusting the “calories in” side of the equation. Now there are many different calculators out there that are all going to give you different numbers. But what you have to understand is these calculators are just meant to be starting points. They aren’t going to work perfectly for everybody!
So instead of just giving you another calorie calculator, I’m also going to show you an alternative way to setup your calories to lose body fat.
We’ll go ahead and start with the simple equation –
a. Multiply your goal bodyweight in pounds by 12.
b. That’s it!
Now you see how this could be associated with some amount of error, right? The benefit is that it’s so simple. But that’s also the downfall. It doesn’t take into account anything about you as an individual. So while it can work, if you choose to use this equation, understand that this is just a starting point and it’s highly likely that you will have to make adjustments based on your progress.
Now we’ll get into the second method –
This is the one I prefer and use with most of my online coaching clients!
a. Track how many calories you’re currently eating for 3-4 weeks.
b. Track your weight every single day (make sure you’re weighing in at the same time of the day).
c. If your weekly average weight is staying about the same, you are eating maintenance calories (the number of calories required to maintain your current bodyweight).
d. Subtract anywhere from 300-500 calories from this maintenance number to get your calorie deficit.
This method takes into account how much you’re currently eating and bases your deficit off that number. So it’s going to be much more accurate than method 1.
But keep in mind that both these methods are starting points! It doesn’t matter which you choose. What’s going to determine the success of either of these working is if you stick with it for a minimum of 4 weeks and only then make adjustments if necessary based on your progress.
We’ll get into that a bit later in the article 🙂
2. Protein
Now you can’t just stop at calories, because the name of this article is “The Best Diet Plan To Lose Weight Forever.” So we’re going to get more detailed than just calories.
Protein is an essential macronutrient and plays many roles in your body – including supporting the maintenance of muscle mass when you’re dieting. Maintaining your muscle when losing weight ensures that the weight you’re losing is purely body fat! And eating enough protein, in addition to strength training, is essential.
To calculate the minimum amount of protein you should be eating daily, use this equation –
Goal bodyweight in pounds x 0.7 grams per day
Pick a realistic goal weight… it doesn’t even have to be your ultimate goal weight. Start with something around 20-30 pounds less than what you weigh currently. Now multiply that by 0.7 . This is going to give you the minimum amount protein you should be eating daily.
3. Carbohydrates & Fat
After you’ve accounted for protein, carbs and fats can fill in the rest of your calories in no specific proportion. Base this on your personal preference – you may enjoy slightly higher carb and lower fat or vice-versa. Either way, just make sure you’re eating an appropriate balance of both. Your body requires both of these macronutrients to maintain good health!
The Best Diet Plan To Lose Weight Forever:
Tracking Your Calories & Macros
Now that you have all your diet plan numbers set up…
How exactly do you track them and do you reallllly have to?
The Benefits of Tracking
Let’s get into the “do I have to” first.
Simple answer – no, you don’t. Tracking your calories is not a requirement for losing weight. Just like tracking your income and expenses isn’t a requirement for saving money. It’s totally possible, but wouldn’t you rather have all the information? That way you’re not just guessing and likely making this process longer than it has to be.
Other than that, tracking your calories and macros has many benefits. It’ll help you:
- improve the quality of your diet
- increase accountability
- visualize portion sizes
- learn how many calories and macros are in common foods you eat
- identify what foods and how much of them help you hit your nutrition numbers
- learn what foods keep you full
- learn how to understand and use your hunger cues, level of fullness and other information your body gives you
Think of tracking calories as a long term investment that will eventually give you the knowledge and freedom to not have to track!
How To Track Your Calories & Macros
Now that I’ve hopefully convinced you to track, let’s get into the how…
The easiest way is to use an app, like MyFitnessPal or LoseIt!
You’ll track everything you eat and drink, using the steps below.
- Get a food scale (using measuring utensils or eyeballing the quantity leaves way too much room for error)
- Every time you go to eat or drink something, weigh that food in the appropriate unit (grams for solids and ounces for liquid)
- Find that food or drink in the app you’re using
- Enter in the weight of the food or drink
- BOOM!
Do this for everything you consume that contains calories (so don’t worry about water or leafy greens, etc). Your goal is to keep an eye on your calorie and protein intake every single day. Find foods and drinks that allow you to hit the numbers you calculated above as accurately as possible!
The Best Diet Plan To Lose Weight Forever:
Tracking Your Progress & Making Adjustments
Now, remember what I said earlier about these numbers only working if you stay consistent and make adjustments based on your progress?
Let’s go over that in detail!
Most importantly, whichever method you chose above to get your calories, you have to remain consistent with it for at least 4 weeks. This is most commonly where people go wrong and end up getting frustrated with every weight loss diet plan they try. Being consistent means you accurately hit your calorie number on at least 85% of the days in 4 weeks – that’s 24 out of 28 days.
Tracking Your Progress
You’ve got your numbers figured out, you’re tracking them in an app and you’re being super consistent.
Now how do you know if that calorie number is right for you?
You have to track your progress!
You’re going to use 3 methods to determine if your diet plan to lose weight is working.
1. Weight
You’ll weigh yourself every day. Yes, everyday! Specifically, every morning after you use the bathroom and before you eat or drink anything, you will weigh yourself naked on the exact same scale and note down the number.
2. Body Measurements
Every 2 weeks, you will take 3 body measurements with a tape measure.
- Stomach – using your belly button as the point of reference
- Quadriceps – largest part of your thigh
- Glutes – largest part of your hips
3. Pictures
At the beginning and end of the 4 weeks, you will take 4 progress pictures – front, back, left and right side views.
Making Adjustments
The combination of these tools will give you a clear picture of if and how your body is changing.
If any single one of these methods shows any weight loss progress at all (this means your weight or inches going down by the smallest amount or your pictures showing the smallest sign of improvement), then your calorie number is working! So you don’t have to change a thing. Just keep going.
But if you show no progress in any of these measures (provided you’ve been at least 85% consistent), then it’s time to make an adjustment.
Here’s another step that is commonly messed up. And I get it… if after working hard for 4 weeks, you see absolutely no change, of course you’re going to be tempted to make some drastic change! But that’s the opposite of what you want to do.
The goal is never to cut your calories as low as possible because that’s simply unsustainable. The goal is to eat as many calories as you can and still be in a deficit to lose weight.
So you’ll be keeping that adjustment super small. You’ll drop your calorie intake by 100-200 calories and keep your protein intake the exact the same!
And then you’ll go through the process all over again.
Wait…what?!
Yes.
You read that correctly.
You’re going to do this process all over again with your new calories.
Of course this begs the question, “Isn’t this a huge waste of time if I’m not making any progress?”
Well that’s up to you. What exactly is the alternative? This process is systematic and based on hard data that you’re collecting. So it’s going to be full proof. And with each step, you’re not only getting closer to your goal of losing weight, you’re also learning about what does and doesn’t work for you. And that is the most valuable knowledge you can have!
The Best Diet Plan To Lose Weight Forever:
Losing Weight With A Healthy Mindset
This brings us to the next incredibly important topic – losing weight with a healthy mindset.
Weight loss is hard.
It’s simple.
But it’s hard.
I mean, if it were easy, don’t you think everybody would be walking around at a healthy weight?
After coaching clients for nearly 10 years on how to lose weight and going through various weight loss phases myself, the one thing that remains consistent across the board is that it’s hard.
And this is true for many reasons, including…
- You want it to happen faster than it will.
- It’s more natural to focus on the outcome, rather than the process.
- At some point, you’ll lose sight of why you’re actually doing this and how far you’ve already come.
- You’ll find yourself relying more on motivation than discipline.
- And somewhere in your mind, you don’t really believe you can be successful.
Your mindset is as important as all the numbers and details you learned above. If you can manage to get yourself in a good headspace and mentally prepare for this journey, you’ll be setting yourself up for success.
Now for the 5 mindset hacks that will play a crucial role in your journey by helping you get through these common obstacles.
Settle In For The Long Run
Impatience is one of the most common causes of failure. Losing weight takes time. I know you don’t want to hear it – but it’s going to take longer than you expect. So the best thing you can do is manage your expectations and don’t be in a hurry. This process is all about making the right changes, finding a way to fit those changes into your lifestyle so you can stick with it long-term and then being consistent for months, if not years.
Here’s what your weight loss timeline will look like:
- 0.5-1.5 lb per week
- 2-6 lb per month
- 12-36 lb per 6 months
And even then, sometimes you’ll see weeks of no change! And you have to be okay with that. I’m telling you this harsh truth because I want you to know what to expect. When you go into a journey to lose weight, the more prepared you are – the more likely you are to succeed!
Value The Process As Much As The Outcome
When working towards any health, fitness or body composition related goal, although it’s important to keep your eyes on the outcome, it’s just as essential to focus on the process itself.
When you look at the process of how to lose weight, you’ll notice there are a lot of things that go into it. Adjusting your calories and hitting your protein goal are just 2 of many components. There’s also: strength training, moving more, eating nutritious foods, learning to eat your favorite foods in moderation, sleeping enough, managing stress, and many more. All these steps will play a big role in helping you reach your goal. But you’re also practicing all of them so you can turn them into habits.
Because a successful weight loss journey isn’t just about losing body fat. It’s about being able to maintain your results long term. And part of maintenance is taking all these steps you practiced along the way to your goal and turning them into permanent lifestyle changes. The things that got you to your goal are the things that’ll help you maintain it forever.
So don’t look at these components as something you’re only going to do until you reach your goal. These are the things you’re going to incorporate into your day to day routine so you come out on the other side of your journey not just having reached your goal, but having changed your life for the better. This process is what makes achieving your goal worth it! And through the process, you’re going to go through many ups and downs and wins and obstacles. Every single one of those moments is an experience you have to go through to learn something.
Don’t be so focused on the end goal that you end up ignoring everything you’re meant to learn. Focus on the day to day process you’re going through to learn as much as you can. This process is where the value lies. Your success is in this very process.
Remember Your "Why"
Every single client I’ve coached has had a moment (or a few) of, “Oh my…This is so hard. I’m quitting.” And this is natural. Even you will have this same thought multiple times as you’re working towards your weight loss goal.
In every instance, the two things you should remind yourself of are your main reason for working towards this goal and how much progress you’ve already made.
It’s easy to lose sight of why you decided to do this in the first place. You get consumed with the daily checklist – calories, protein, workout, steps, sleep. And at some point you hit an obstacle, fall off track, see your weight spike up and question why you’re still going through this difficult process.
When you find yourself in these inevitable moments, the best way to get back into a good headspace is to think about your “why” and look at where you started. Why did you start this journey in the first place? Yes, to lose weight and get healthier. But go deeper than that. What is your primary purpose? Why is achieving your goal important to you?
Think about these questions and also look back at your starting point. Put your progress into numbers (weight and measurements) and visuals (progress pictures and how your clothes fit) and recognize what you have achieved so far.
Reminding yourself of these two things will push you through these urges to quit!
Rely On Discipline Instead Of Motivation
One thing I can guarantee is you’re not always going to feel motivated to do what it takes to reach your goals. Motivation is fleeting and for that reason, you can’t rely on it. There’s a misconception that people who successfully reach their goals are always motivated. But the difference successful and unsuccessful people isn’t the constant presence of motivation. The difference is in the inevitable moments in which successful people lack motivation, they continue to take action. Despite sometimes “not feeling like it,” they still do what they need to.
You can’t expect yourself to spontaneously feel motivated and wait for those moments to start putting in the work. If you do that, you’re going to be waiting forever! You have to create your motivation by taking action.
But let’s back up a bit. How do you motivate yourself to even take that small, initial action?Two things… First, scroll back up to item 3…remind yourself of your “why”. If your purpose is strong enough and if achieving your goals are worth enough to you, there’s your motivation to take action. Second, practice discipline. No, discipline and motivation are not the same things. Motivation is a feeling. Discipline is action.
Have the discipline to do what you have to do despite not feeling motivated. Make a commitment to yourself and follow through even when it’s difficult.
You’re going to “not feel like it” more than a few times along your journey. But now you know all you have to do to get that momentum going again is taking action. You are always just one step away from getting back on track. Follow through on the commitment you made to yourself!
Believe In Yourself!
It’s natural to have some doubts in your mind. Everybody begins with some level of hesitancy. But if you approach the weight loss process already thinking that you can’t do it, you’re already at a loss.
When you first start working towards anything, it’s going to be overwhelming simply because you’re not used to the changes you’re making. You’re not going to automatically be good at this without time to practice. But if you consistently put forth your best effort and give yourself time to adjust, with practice these changes will start to feel more natural and less overwhelming.
Don’t put yourself at a disadvantage before you even give yourself a chance.
If you want to be successful, you have to believe you can be.
Push through the fear and hesitation and approach your goal with an “I can do it” mindset and wholeheartedly believe it – you’ll automatically have a leg up!
You have to give yourself a chance. Believe in yourself. Believe in your ability to do hard things. Believe that you can achieve your goal. Start this process with that believe and mindset and you’ll be setting yourself up for success!
Final Words
I hope this article helped you clearly understand how to setup your diet plan to lose weight.
There are multiple factors that go into this process. This article was primarily focused on the diet and mindset components. However, as I mentioned above, strength training also plays an essential role. You can read more about it here and grab your free strength training program at the end of the article!
If you have any questions or concerns, please send me an email at jshahfitness@gmail.com with the subject “BEST DIET PLAN TO LOSE WEIGHT” and I’ll help you to the best of my ability!
If you ever need help along your journey, feel free to read more about my online coaching program through which I’ve taught hundreds of people how to lose weight, get stronger and take control of their health!
Thanks for reading!