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The second phase of losing weight, once you know how to lose it, is creating your plan. You know what it will take to get the weight off, so now you need to create a plan. You know that you need to find your ideal caloric intake, cut that by about 500 calories, and balance the calories you do take in.

Your first step now is to determine your ideal calorie intake, your caloric “set point.” There are two ways to do this. You can find an online calorie maintenance calculator and plug in your weight, height, age and gender. Some of these calculators are very good, and can produce a very accurate number.

If you do not have a calorie calculator handy, or do not wish to use one, you can calculate your calories the old-fashioned way. Choose a day to calculate your calories, and eat what you regularly eat. Don’t try to “watch” or reduce your calories; just keep track of them. Add this up, and you’ve got your calorie intake for the day, of course. Do this for several days and average the totals. That is your calorie maintenance level.

Whichever method you choose for calculating your ideal calorie level, or even if you use both, you now have the number of calories your body needs to maintain your current weight, and you are ready to create your plan.

As you recall, you need to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories. That is the root of your plan. You need to create a diet and exercise plan that reduces your calorie level by 500 per day.

The most important part of your diet plan is balancing your calories between protein, fat and carbohydrates.

Let’s start with protein. One gram of protein contains four calories. If you are only dieting, and not exercising, you should plan on consuming about half a gram of protein per pound of body weight. If you’re working out, you probably want to go a little higher, even as high as three quarters of a gram to one gram of protein per pound of body weight. Using the one gram equals four calories equation, you can figure out how many of your calories should come from protein.

You want to avoid bad fat, which includes saturated and trans fats. But you need good fats, which can be found in fish, nuts, olive oil, and flax seed and fish oil seed supplements. About 30% of your calories should be good fat. One gram of fat has nine calories, so you can figure your fat calories quite easily.

Obviously, whatever part of your diet is not protein and fat, will come from carbs. You should concentrate on complex carbs, such as beans, brown rice, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables, rather than simple carbs, which break down directly into sugar in your bloodstream. One gram of carbs contain four calories (just like protein), so you can calculate your carb requirements.

While it is very important to balance your calories, the most important thing you can do to lose weight is to reduce your caloric intake to 500 calories below your maintenance level. If you do that, you will lose weight.

Continue to: How to Lose Weight in Three Simple Steps, Part 3