Men have an advantage in the battle of the bulge. Their bodies tend to lose weight with slightly less effort than a woman's body but that does not let you completely off the hook, fellows. You still have to mind what you are eating and you still have to exercise. While the average man might be less concerned about his appearance or a few pounds gained here and there, they should realize that those few pounds quickly pile up and can affect the health very negatively.

Much has been said about the Paleo diet, especially for men. Another that is similar to this one is the new Atkins diet, one that has been dramatically improved from the original. Both are high in protein, both have a number of food choices and both allow for healthy fat choices. With the Paleo diet, which you might know as the caveman diet, the limits are mostly on grains and dairy foods. The new version of the Atkins diet changed some of the things that were most concerning about this plan in its previous form, namely the high fat, high cholesterol food choices and the restriction of healthier foods like vegetables. Gone are the suggestions of eating bacon cheeseburgers without the bun, replaced with much more reasonable choices.

Some men choose to go either vegetarian or vegan in their quest to be thinner. It is a myth that you cannot keep or build lean muscle mass without eating meat, however that is false. In fact, there are quite a few vegan bodybuilders who are proving just how wrong that thought is. Many men find giving up meat, dairy and eggs to be too difficult and may give up after a few days or weeks.

Calories are important but not the only consideration. Men need to be sure they are getting the right number of calories no matter what kind of diet plan they are following. Too many and the weight will creep up, too few and the same thing will happen as well. If you have been working in the gym in hopes of building a well muscled physique, you are not going to get much success if you aren't eating enough calories. Eventually the body will start breaking down your muscles to burn for fuel.

So men, choose a good diet- one that is balanced and easily followed. Complex or expensive meals are not going to be maintainable in the long term and will be frustrating. The same meal over and over is effective because it takes some of the mystery out of meal planning but gets really boring, really fast. Find something that you can stick to and will give you the best health and fitness for the long term.