Diet Plan(s) - What Works Best?

I eat "normal" foods for the most part, except for perhaps the fact that some people find it strange that I dip fries in my frosty at Wendy's. The diet that works best for you is the one that can be sustainable, and at least for the time being since you are wanting to cut, incorporates a calorie deficit.

Options as to how you go about achieving this deficit are about as vast as the stars in the night sky. Step one for you is to first calculate your TDEE or total daily energy expenditure. This is the amount of calories you burn per day even in a coma. I suggest you set your activity level to sedentary to allow for some wiggle room. After you have this figured you can then set a reasonable daily calorie limit for yourself. Don't go too nuts or aggressive with this or else it will become increasingly difficult to stick with. You can cut this later on after you get your feet wet.

TDEE: http://damnripped.com/tdee-calculator/ (note: be honest on this or you will only be hurting yourself in the long run)

After you have this framework in place, all you pretty much have to do is eat up to your limit of calories each day and don't exceed it. Provided you do this and do not have some sort of rare genetic disorder, you will lose weight. At first, probably a bunch of weight depending on how much you have to lose. There is no critical need to drastically cut foods you like necessarily, but depending on what it is you may well have to change portion sizes. After awhile (and it won't take long) you will become an expert at being able to maximize the amount of food you can eat while still keeping calories where they need to be. The good part? Companies out there who make food are mindful of people like us, and are becoming increasingly adept at giving us more bang for our calorie buck. Halo Top Ice Cream, for example, has been like a gift from God to many of us, and they are the tip of the iceberg.

The rest is just a matter of planning and consistency. I plan my meals in advance on some days, on others I just sort of go with the flow. After awhile it just becomes the new normal, and sticking to your "diet" becomes as routine as breathing. The only activity I sometimes engage in which is probably not the healthiest is what I refer to as "banking". I enjoy pigging out on occasion, so to accommodate this I will have days where I skip breakfast entirely and then only have a protein bar for lunch so I can have a ridiculous dinner. My most recent banking episode was last week when I went to my favorite burger joint called Fuddruckers. I had a half pound burger with all the trimmings plus a full basket of wedge fries along with hot jalapeno cheddar to dip then in. It was friggin glorious. Did it suck not eating much for the day leading up to it? Yup, it sure did, but the meal that night was totally worth it to me, and I was still under my calorie goal

Stick around MFP, log everything consistency and honestly, and stay in a calorie deficit and the weight loss will take care of itself.