The Best Diet for Weight Loss
What’s the best diet for weight loss?
You’ve probably heard Keto, Paleo, Mediterranean, Intermittent Fasting, and nowadays, Carnivore.
But which one actually works?
Which one is best?
That is what you’ll learn today.
I will tell you exactly what diet is best for you as you aim to lose weight, and why.
Here’s the thing. Searching for the “best” diet for weight loss is the exact reason people get stuck, or at best, lose a little weight and then gain it all back (80% of people who lose weight regain it within the first five years (1).
You may have experienced the same.
Maybe not.
I don’t know exactly what brought you here. Perhaps you’ve lost weight and you’ve gained it all back. Maybe you’ve been trying to get the weight off but it’s just not working the way you’d like. Maybe you’re just starting out and you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed with where to start and what to do.
No matter what your story or where you’re coming from, you’re here to figure out what the best diet is to help you finally get rid of that weight that is holding you back.
But you see, that right there is the problem. There is no such thing as the one “best” diet for all people.
That’s the reason people get stuck. They’re looking for something that doesn’t exist.
It’s not entirely about the diet itself.
It’s about your consistency.
Simply put, the best diet for weight loss is the one you can stick to consistently while being in a calorie deficit.
The #1 Factor In Weight Loss: A Calorie Deficit
Whether you eat nothing but Twinkies and Ho Hos, or nothing but sirloin and broccoli, a calorie deficit is what is going to get you to lose weight.
If you’re not familiar with a calorie deficit and how it works, let’s go over a brief lesson.
Your body is constantly burning calories. This is what we call your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or in other words, the total amount of calories you burn throughout the day.
Your TDEE consists of a few different components:
Basal Metabolic Rate (calories burned at rest): this is often referred to as your metabolism
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF): this is the amount of calories your body burns by breaking down and digesting the food you eat. Diet quality is the largest contributing factor.
Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT): this is the amount of calories your body burns from movement that isn’t formal exercise such as doing chores, typing on a computer, walking, etc.
Exercise Activity Thermoenesis (EAT): this is the amount of calories burned from exercise like lifting weights, swimming, cycling, etc.
Fat tissue is essentially stored energy or stored calories (a calorie is a unit of energy).
When you consume fewer calories than you burn in the day, you are in a calorie deficit.
In order to make up for the deficit, your body will use stored energy or in this case, fat tissue.
And that is how fat is lost.
Although all of the special diet influencers want to make it seem like their diet is the only one that causes weight loss due to some special component, the reality is this:
Every diet that works for weight loss is one that creates a calorie deficit.
When you sit back and evaluate all diets out there, nearly all of them help you create a calorie deficit but restricting foods or meal timing.
Low-carb creates a calorie deficit by cutting out calories from foods with carbohydrates.
Carnivore creates a calorie deficit by cutting out calories from foods that aren’t animal based.
Intermittent fasting creates a calorie deficit by shortening eating windows in order to consume fewer calories.
They all do the same thing.
On the flipside, if you do Carnivore and eat more calories than your body needs to maintain weight, you will gain weight.
If you do intermittent fasting and only eat in a 8 hour window during the day, yet eat more calories than you need to maintain your weight, you will gain weight.
Plain and simple.
Now this may seem frustrating.
If all diets do is create a calorie deficit, then no diet itself truly works because of some special reason.
But it’s actually freeing.
Because no diet works for a special reason other than creating a calorie deficit, you are free to eat however you want to lose weight, as long as you are in a calorie deficit.
Take my client Eric, for example. Before working with me, he thought he couldn’t have ice cream. So he followed a strict diet but wasn’t seeing the progress he wanted, because he wasn’t in a calorie deficit.
But while working with me, he was able to enjoy his ice cream and still get in the best shape of his life.
Now, just because you can eat however you’d like in a calorie deficit and still lose weight, it doesn’t mean you should.
There are a few things to keep in mind when constructing the best diet for weight loss.
What Makes a Diet Work?
Adherence
What makes a diet work is you following through with the calorie deficit consistently.
So, when determining what kind of diet you want to follow, I invite you to ask yourself two questions:
1. Do I see myself eating like this the rest of my life?
If you only see yourself eating a certain way to lose fat for a short period of time, it will absolutely work, but once you return to your old ways, the fat will pile right back on.
2. Do I see this diet fitting into the lifestyle I want to live?
You cannot live the same lifestyle that got you in this situation, and expect to get in incredible shape.
There will be certain aspects of your lifestyle that you will need to change. However, your diet needs to be able to find its place in the new lifestyle you want to live with some level of flexibility.
For example, if eating a paleo style diet will work for the next few months because you don’t have a lot of social events coming up, it will not work long term if you intend to participate in the food and drinks that social events have to offer down the road.
But again, there must be some change. You once enjoyed far too much at social events. Moving forward, you don’t need to say “no” to social events, you just need to be more mindful of when indulging is worth the impact on your goals. Sometimes it will be, sometimes it won’t.
Protein Intake
If you didn’t think protein intake played a role in the effectiveness of your diet, think again.
Protein intake is a crucial part of finding the “best” diet for weight loss.
When you are eating adequate protein, along with following a proper resistance training program, you will increase your lean body mass, which will lead to more calories burned throughout the day without any added effort.
When you burn more calories throughout the day, you have a higher calorie budget to elicit the same calorie deficit.
For example, let’s say you used to need 1,600 Cals per day in order to be in a 20% calorie deficit (20% fewer calories than you need to maintain your weight). After gaining more lean body mass, you now need 1,800 Calories per day in order to be in a 20% calorie deficit.
Not only will more protein lead to higher lean body mass and therefore a high total daily calorie expenditure, but it will lead to a higher thermic effect of food as well.
The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the amount of calories your body burns by breaking down and digesting the food you consume.
Believe it or not, your body burns roughly 20-30% of the calories from protein during digestion, compared to 5-10% for carbs and 0-3% for fats (1).
A higher calorie budget makes your calorie deficit far easier.
Adequate protein intake will also make your diet far more satiating.
If you’ve tried to lose fat before, you know that hunger management is the name of the game. The more satiated you are, the less you need to rely on fighting your way through hunger.
As a macronutrient (a nutrient that your body needs in large quantities), protein has quite a few foods that are high on the satiety index.
“How much protein should I be eating?” you may wonder.
The RDA for protein intake is .8g per kg of total body weight. But the RDA is designed to prevent deficiency, rather than optimize muscle mass, health, and quality of life.
It’s generally recommended that you consume a minimum of .7g per pound of bodyweight each day.
Nutrient Density
Speaking of protein, the overall quality of your diet is another factor that will impact its effectiveness for weight loss.
Though a calorie deficit is the single more important factor, it’s important to make sure you create that deficit with a diet full of whole, natural, nutrient dense foods.
Unfortunately, roughly 60% of the American diet is made up of ultra-processed foods that are low in micronutrients, protein, and fiber.
A high fiber diet from whole foods will lead to greater weight loss and weight management long term, as those who eat more fiber generally eat 100 fewer calories per meal without even trying (2).
Simply put, your energy, satiety, health, mood, digestion, and body composition will all be better off when whole foods make up the majority of your diet, no matter what kind of dietary approach you choose to take.
Turns out the age-old advice of eating lean proteins and an abundance of fruits and veggies had a lot of truth to it.
Yet people thought it was too simple to be true.
Flexibility
Flexibility is arguably one of the most important elements of what makes a diet work long term.
If it’s too rigid, you will create meaningless and useless food rules that do you no good.
You will feel like you “cheated” your diet if you went “off plan” and that can lead to further binging and yo-yoing.
The best approach is a flexible approach. Without beating a dead horse of flexibility, keep the following things in mind when thinking through the best diet for weight loss.
Do I enjoy this diet?
Does this diet allow for wiggle room for indulgences, social events, etc.
Can I enjoy those things and still reach my goals?
Do I truly see myself eating this way the rest of my life?
Will this diet help me feel good as well as look good, or will I have to sacrifice how I feel to appease my physique for a short stint?
The Best Diet For Weight Loss: A Practical Approach
In an effort to reduce overwhelm from information overload, I wanted to include a section breaking down a simple and practical way to approach a healthy, sustainable diet in your everyday life.
First and most importantly, no matter what style of diet you choose, make sure you are in a calorie deficit, eating fewer calories than you need to maintain your weight. It doesn’t matter how healthy you eat, if you’re eating too many calories you will not lose fat.
Secondly, focus on 80% of your calorie intake coming from whole, natural, nutrient dense foods. I like to tell my clients to make sure that 80% of what they eat came from the ground or something that had a face before it was on their plate. If you are aiming to eat 1,600 calories per day to lose weight, 1,280 calories per day should come from whole foods, and the remaining can come from whatever else you’d like.
Ensure that you are able to be flexible with your approach. If you feel restricted in any way, it won’t work. If you find yourself saying things like “I can’t have ____”, you’ve created a meaningless rule that is too rigid.
By the way, if you want to avoid certain things out of choice, that is entirely different. It’s one thing to say “I can’t have that cake” when you really want it. It’s another thing to say “I choose not to have that cake” when it doesn’t align with what you want out of your diet.
Choice is everything.
Lastly, prioritize protein and fiber. I hardly ever have my clients aim for carbohydrate and fat goals, simply because it’s far too much mental energy spent on things that have very little return. Paying attention to calorie, protein, and fiber targets will make dramatic changes not only in your health, but in your body composition as well.
I don’t believe I’ve mentioned this yet, but a good rule of thumb is to aim for 14g fiber per 1,000 calories consumed. This means a 2,000 calorie diet should have 28g fiber from whole foods.
Here is a list of whole foods that can and should be regularly included in your diet, unless you have an intolerance or allergy:
Healthy Go-Tos: These are foods you should regularly consume for an overall healthy diet:
Berries
Nuts and Seeds
Avocados
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Olives
Seafood
Non starchy vegetables
Herbs and Spices
Healthy Additions: These are foods that can be regularly incorporated into a healthy diet:
Whole fruits
Poultry
Keifer and Greek Yogurt
Potatoes
Whole Grains
Dark Chocolate
Healthy in a Balanced Diet: These are foods that can a part of a healthy diet:
Red Meat (unprocessed)
Non-Fermented Dairy and Cheeses
Eggs
Coconut Products
Soy Products
Foods to Limit: These are foods that are not necessarily off limits, but should be consumed sparingly for overall health:
Processed Meats (lunch meats, hot dogs, etc.)
Added sugar
Syrups
Refined grains
Fried Foods
Alcohol (I would limit alcohol more than anything else, but that’s for another article)
At this point you may feel ready to turn your diet around for the better with simple changes, rather than continuing to dig for the “best” crash diet for weight loss. If so, I’ve done my job. However, I would regret not sharing some tips on how to avoid very common mistakes to help you keep them from happening.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Chasing Outcomes Over Behaviors
If there’s anything I’ve learned about fitness, nutrition, and how humans interact with the two, it’s that behaviors and actions are far more important than outcomes.
Weight loss is important for most people to be healthier, and I understand that it is an outcome. By no means am I suggesting that you shouldn’t pay attention to your weight.
What I will say, though, is to make sure that your pursuit of weight loss doesn’t cause you to lose sight of your actions and behaviors.
You will not lose weight every week. In fact, you may not lose weight for a few weeks in a row. Oftentimes, this will lead people to believe that what they’re doing isn’t working. Yet, their choices are better, their habits and routines are better, their energy is better, their libido is better, their workouts are better, their sleep is better, and their quality of life is better. Weight loss may be your end goal, but it’s not the only thing that comes from a quality diet.
Focus on your actions and behaviors, and the outcomes will take care of themselves.
Eating Healthy Yet Overeating
Study after study shows that we can drastically underestimate how many calories we eat in a day.
One study found that individuals who thought they were consuming 1,200 calories per day were actually consuming more than 2,000 calories per day (3).
Even nutrition professionals have been shown to underreport their food intake by hundreds of calories per day (4).
The solution?
Track your food.
Though tracking isn’t necessary for weight loss, it is too powerful of a tool to ignore, especially since we notoriously eat far more than we think we do.
Lucky for you, there are tons of apps that make food tracking easier than ever before.
MyFitnessPal, Chronometer, FatSecret, and MyNetDiary are all great options, to name a few.
Food tracking is not a way of life. You don’t have to do it forever, but you can if you want to.
Households have a budget when their finances need to be under control.
Businesses have accountants to make sure things don’t get out of hand.
Your body is no different. It has a calorie budget, and if you choose to ignore it, the stats show the fat could start to pile on.
The “All or Nothing” Mindset
If you’re someone who has a hard time with the all or nothing mindset, I have some tough love for you.
The all or nothing mindset is an excuse.
Why?
Because you never do anything perfect.
Yet, all or nothing individuals will find themselves saying “either I do it perfectly or I don’t do it at all”.
Not true. You actually do everything imperfectly. The same goes for your nutrition.
“All or nothing” is usually a smokescreen for something else.
The good news is that you can finally let go of this mindset.
“But Adam, I do tend to go off the rails when I slip up.”
I hear you. In order to avoid that, making sure your diet allows for flexibility will largely address that.
However, there are a couple of things you can keep in mind to prevent you from going off the deep end should you make a decision that wasn’t a part of your plan.
The first is a story.
Let’s say you’re driving down the road, and you get a flat.
Would you proceed to get out of the car and say “you know what? If I can’t drive with all four tires, I may as well drive with no tires” and then begin slashing the other three tires?
No.
That would be stupid.
The same concept applies to your nutrition.
If you made a decision that was off plan, you simply move on with your life and make a sound decision next time. Not the next day, not the next week, but the next meal.
Here’s the second: never miss twice.
Though I’m not a huge fan of rules, I do like this one.
Never miss two meals in a row of on plan eating. Never miss two workouts in a row. Never miss two days in a row. Whatever your “two” is, never miss two of them in a row.
Will you at some point? Yes, because you’re imperfect.
And when you do, you’ll remember that there’s no point in sabotaging the rest of the day, and you can make a sound decision next time you have the opportunity.
How to Start Today
Here’s your step by step guide to finding the best diet for weight loss, starting today.
Track your intake for two weeks straight. If you’re not willing to weigh and track your food, at least write down what you eat and drink every day for two weeks straight. At worst, your awareness of your habits, good and bad, will drastically increase.
Set a protein target, and aim to hit it each day through whole foods, and some protein powder if needed. Remember, .7g per pound of bodyweight is the minimum to shoot for.
Set a fiber target, and aim to hit it each day through whole foods. Aim for 14g per 1,000 calories consumed.
Stick to a rough meal schedule. Each eating window can be about two hours. For example, breakfast happens sometime between 7-9am, lunch from 12-2pm, and so on. Your body loves routine.
Make sure you’re eating in a calorie deficit. You only know if you track, and/or see fat leaving your body. Use my free fat loss calorie calculator here
Focus on sustainability and enjoyment, not perfection.
With that, you have your “best” diet for weight loss.
Thanks for reading. I hope this helps. :)
Should you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below, or send an email to adam@poehlmannfitness.com. I read every one of them.
To your health,
Adam
PS. You’ve got this. But if you’re tired of trying on your own, or want to team up with me and work together, you can find more information here.