What Are the Best Diet Plans for Men?

Losing weight is difficult, for men and women alike. Making lifestyle changes is important if you want to not only drop pounds, but keep it off. Folks who incorporate changes to their everyday diet are much more likely to see success on the scale than those who only decide to make healthy choices part of the time. The same is true for physical exercise—it needs to become a part of your routine if you want to see results.

No matter what your goal is, you can lose weight when you have a plan, and a lot of times that involves trying a few diet plans before you see what works best for you. There’s no one size fits all approach to this, and every body responds differently to changes in your diet. Which is why we thought we’d offer a few diet plans to get you started!

If you’re a guy looking to start a new routine when it comes to what you’re eating, you’re in luck because today we’re covering:

• The best ways for men to lose weight
• The essential foods men should consume to drop those pounds
• The top diet plans for men

What’s the best way for men to lose weight?

Want to lose weight? Make sure you’re incorporating these tips.

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Before you start looking at potential diet plans to help you along your weight loss journey, it’s important to keep in mind a few essentials that you’ll need to know if you want to drop weight. Men typically store the most weight in their midsection, and losing weight here is a great choice for your overall health. When you’re carrying too much belly weight, you increase your risk for chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, not to mention obesity. 

And as a guy, once you commit to losing weight, you may see results quicker than you thought! Short term weight loss tends to happen more quickly in men than in women, typically due to their higher testosterone levels and greater amounts of lean muscle. However, it’s not a race, and studies show that in the long term, both men and women’s overall weight loss will balance out. 

So what should you do to set yourself up for success?

• Increase physical activity. We all know that increasing your physical activity is a must when you’re trying to lose weight. Just diet alone isn’t enough if you want to drop pounds. It’s best to try and incorporate physical activity each day, but we understand an intense work out session just isn’t possible every day of the week when you have a busy schedule. That’s why in addition to your workouts five days a week, you can try and boost your steps daily. This has become a popular way for folks to subtly increase their movement each day without having to hit the gym. 

• Track your calories. One of the best ways you ensure you’re ending your day with a calorie deficit that will keep you on track to lose weight is with a tracking app. These are available for phones and watches, and you can easily input exactly what you eat, and how many calories you’re consuming. Gone on the days when you had to guess! In addition, most apps that track calories also offer step tracking and physical activity tracking. Check out some of the top choices here!

• Prepare your own meals. This is a great way to limit the extra calories, sugar, and carbs that often go into prepared meals when you eat out. This isn’t to say you can’t eat out, just limit the times per week/month you do. Taking the time to prepare your meals at home ensures you know exactly what’s going into your meals, and can track and record that accordingly. 

• Get enough sleep. Sleep is essential to our bodies, and it’s an important component of a healthy lifestyle. When you don’t prioritize sleep, you may find that you have a harder time losing weight. Nighttime is when our bodies and brains rest and recover from the day, and the better our sleep quality, the higher chance we’ll meet our weight loss goals. Aim for 7-9 hours each night.

• Stay hydrated. Keeping yourself hydrated is also crucial to lose weight. You’ll want to ensure you’re drinking water throughout the day, and avoid high calorie drinks like juices, sodas, and energy drinks. 

What food should men eat to lose weight?

Try including these foods into your routine to stay full and lose weight

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No matter what diet plan you decide to try (more on that next), there are a variety of foods you should try and include in your regimen daily. You can mix and match what foods you consume, the main thing is to stay consistent, nourish your body, and stay on track when it comes to how many calories you’re consuming and burning. Here are some top options you can try out!

Protein

Increasing your protein is a great way for men to lose weight. Protein is what helps us feel full, and it takes longer for the body to digest than fats or carbs. Another fantastic benefit of protein? It can help you build lean muscle when you’re doing strength training as a part of your daily exercise routine. Foods like eggs, cottage cheese, chicken, tuna, salmon, turkey, lentils, and yogurt are delicious low calorie ways to do this. Another great way is with a convenient meal replacement shake like WonderSlim’s. 

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You may not always have time to cook a protein packed meal, and these shakes are easy to take on the go. With 15 grams of protein, 24 vitamins and minerals, and just 100 calories, you’ll feel full and have the energy to get through the day.

Fruits and vegetables

Fruits and veggies make for amazing, healthy snacks and side dishes, and are usually low in calories. Include foods like blueberries, broccoli, leafy greens, apples, and oranges when you want a snack.

Fiber

Fiber helps us stay full, and it’s essential for a healthy gut. Fill your pantry with items like brown rice, whole wheat crackers, whole wheat bread, and legumes. There are so many ways to include fiber rich foods into your diet!

The best diet plans for men

Try out these options for men to jumpstart your weight loss

High protein diet

Increasing your protein intake is a great way to stay full and consume less. Men who have success on this diet find it easy to follow, and they don’t feel hungry at the end of the day. When you include extra protein at your meals, and as a part of your snacks, you’re more likely to feel satisfied and not need extra calories. Since protein is more filling, you’ll find that you need to consume less in general in order to feel full. 

Protein can also fuel your exercise routine, and will help you build lean muscle as you drop the weight. 

Mediterranean diet

Another popular diet for men is the Mediterranean diet, which includes increasing the amount of fish, beans, and fruits and vegetables that you consume. This diet follows what is primarily eaten in the cultures around the Mediterranean Sea, which have some of the healthiest, longest living people. This type of diet is easy to follow, and it does not restrict foods, but suggests you eat those foods not mentioned in moderation. There are multiple studies that show this type of diet can help reduce pounds, not to mention it is a diet you can continue to follow in the long term.

Intermittent fasting

Another way to see the weight come off that’s been successful for men is intermittent fasting/energy restriction. This is when you limit the time you can eat for a certain amount of hours, such as 8 hours, and then fast for the remaining 16 hours. Research suggests you can lose weight doing this, as well as balance out your blood sugar. There are many ways to follow this pattern, and it is a highly adaptable diet plan that you can customize and see which one works best for your lifestyle.

Low carb diet

Low carb diets do not have to mean very low carb diets, and can be modified to include more carbohydrates (such as keto 2.0). These types of diets are great at targeting visceral fat, which is what men are likelier to carry around their midsection. More moderate low carb diets are easier to sustain than very restrictive ones like the original keto diet, which means you’re likely to stick to it and keep the weight off. 

Try one of these diet plans for men and see how much you can lose!

If you’re still on the fence about choosing a diet plan, why not give each one a try? Make sure you incorporate the tips for successfully losing weight, as well as the best foods for men to eat, and see what works for you!