Beginner Diet Advice, short and sweet.

If you're a beginner and new to all this overwhelming information available on the internet all you need to remember is it's simply calorie expenditure. So calories in... calories out. You simply need to eat below your caloric maintenance with smart food choices which Ill get to. There are advanced diets out there which are more targeted for removing stubborn fat (alpha-receptors) when you're quite lean with visible abs, however using them too early can be quite unproductive. They need to be applied at the very last stage. So to keep things simple, Ill just talk about what you the beginner dieter needs to do to get to that stage.

Now, first and foremost... FORGET all the fad diets, their not needed and some are plain nuts! If this diet for you is to be successful it quite simply has to me a "MUST". You MUST want it! There is no excuses...
especially the "coined" ones everyone uses and abuses:
'It's too cold to exercise' 
'I have bad genetics'
'Their better than me'
'I'm too busy, too much going on'
'It's to hard'
'It hurts too much'
'I'm too tired'
'It's not working'
If you must have it... you will, simple!

What you need to do is workout your BMR:
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Activity factor
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2 X day training, marathon, football camp, contest, etc.)

This isn't set in stone, for example... I have a metabolism way over the calculated above (but that for me is through diet and training, eating the right foods and training hard) it's simply a starting point, you'll adjust as the weeks progress.

Diet:
Keep it simple for now, something like the following for a 1800 calories a day diet:

Non lifting weights day:
Meal 1: Protein @ 40g, carbs @ 65g, fat at no more than 10g
Meal 2: Protein @ 40g, carbs @ 65g, fat at no more than 10g
Meal 3: Protein @ 40g, fat @ 30g, and trace carbs from fibrous vegies/salad
Meal 4: Protein @ 40g, fat @ 30g, and trace carbs from fibrous vegies/salad

Lifting weights day:
Meal 1: Protein @ 40g, carbs @ 65g, fat at no more than 10g
Meal 2: Protein @ 40g, carbs @ 65g, fat at no more than 10g
Meal 3: Protein @ 40g, carbs @ 65g, fat at no more than 10g
Meal 4: Protein @ 40g, fat @ 30g, and trace carbs from fibrous vegies/salad

Protein sources:
Simply lean meats, chicken, beef, fish, shellfish, turkey, eggs/egg whites, pork and game.

Carb sources:
Rice, basmatti or brown
Oats
Sweet potatoes
White potatoes (preferably only in the meal after the postworkout meal)
Whole grain breads (preferably only in the meal after the postworkout meal)
Fresh fruit
Fresh/frozen berries can be used in the first couple meals of the day with oats
Vegetables
Yogurt

Fats:
Coconut oil
Peanut butter
Nuts
Almond butter
Flax oil
Olive oil
Fish oil

If you need help with all this feel free to contact me!

Diet tips:

• Don't mixed fats and carbs, either have protein and carbs OR protein and fats.
• Time weightlifting with meals, have your pre workout meal and hour or so before training then your post workout meal as a meal... example, I do the following:
• 4pm pre workout meal, train around 5:00 to 5:30pm. Train to 6:30 ~ 7:00pm... NO standard post workout shake JUST dinner with protein and carbs, a lean protein source and baked potatoes or rice with vegies or salad.
• Plan your meals days in advance, it's also a good idea to have everything pre cooked... makes everything much easier.
• Do your cardio, if you also do cardio on the same days as you lift weights... separate them, i.e morning cardio, afternoon weights.
• Get your fibre in, so important as it slows the GI of carbs down and clears the bowels of toxins
• A fish oil capsule or 2 with every meal, helps with insulin and lipids 
• Green tea and boost you metabolism
• Improve your insulin sensitivity 
• Herbal tea

Keep it simple, that just plain works!