← Guides

Is my diet or workout plan right?

A plan is right when it gets five things right: an energy level that suits your goal, enough protein, training that builds up, rest, and a fit with the days you actually have. These are the five things Nume builds into every plan it writes. You can use them to check any plan, wherever it came from, and a plan that passes all five is a reasonable one to start with and adjust.

Why we wrote this down

It is the question we see most. In our research into what people ask about fitness, nearly a third of the questions were someone asking whether a plan was right, ahead of every other topic.

Plans made with AI get the same question. In about two of every three accounts we read of people using an assistant for their food or training, they had made a plan with it and then asked other people whether it was right.

The five checks

1. Is the energy level sensible for the goal?

Look for a daily calorie figure, or portions that add up to one, that matches what you want: somewhat below what you use to lose fat, about the same to stay where you are, a little above to build muscle. As a reference point, the NHS says an average man needs about 2,500 kcal a day and an average woman about 2,000, and that the real figure moves with age, size and activity. For weight loss, the NHS suggests aiming for 0.5 to 1 kg a week.

Then add up one day of the plan’s food. If the menu comes to a very different number from the one the plan states, one of them is wrong.

Warning signs:

• a calorie number copied from someone else’s plan
• a pace of loss much faster than 0.5 to 1 kg a week
• a low intake paired with long daily training

In Nume: your daily energy is worked out from your age, sex, height, weight, how active a normal day is, your training and your goal, and it follows your latest weigh-in. For fat loss, the first two weeks use a smaller cut. Nume won’t plan very low-calorie days.

2. Is there enough protein?

The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) gives 1.4 to 2.0 g of protein per kg of body weight a day as enough for most people who exercise. The general recommended intake for adults is 0.8 g per kg. For someone who weighs 70 kg, that is 98 to 140 g a day in the ISSN range. These are the source’s ranges and are not a target worked out for you.

The ISSN also suggests spreading protein through the day in servings of about 20 to 40 g. So the quick check is this: at most of the times you eat, is there a protein food? Eggs, chicken, fish, paneer, tofu, Greek yogurt, beans, lentils and a scoop of whey all count.

Warning signs:

• most of the day’s protein arrives at dinner
• a plan labelled “high protein” that adds up to well under the range above
• protein that depends on food you don’t eat

In Nume: every day has a protein plan built up week by week, each meal shows its protein, and Progress shows how your protein has averaged against the plan.

3. Does the training work the whole body and build up?

The WHO recommends that adults do 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week (or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity), plus muscle-strengthening work for all the major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week. The NHS names those groups as legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms.

In a gym plan, that usually means each week has something for the legs, the hips and back, a push, a pull and the trunk. At home, bodyweight exercises and resistance bands cover the same ground. Sport, brisk walking and riding a bike all count towards the weekly minutes.

Then look for how the plan gets harder over time. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) says healthy adults should train with progressive resistance. Its 2009 guidance gave a plain rule: once you can do one or two more reps than the target, add a little weight. Its 2026 review found that training every set to failure did not consistently change results, so a plan does not need to take you there.

Warning signs:

• chest and arms most days, legs rarely or never
• a different set of exercises every session, so there is nothing to add to
• the same weights in week eight as in week one

In Nume: workouts are written for the days you can train, at home or at a gym, with sets, reps and rest you follow step by step. After a full session the next one steps up. Your own sport, gym routine or daily walk counts, and food is planned around it.

4. Is there rest?

ACSM’s 2009 guidance suggested two to three strength days a week for beginners, three to four for people with about six months of steady training, and four to five for people with years of it. Walking or other easy activity on the days in between is fine.

The warning sign is a beginner plan with six hard days and no lighter ones.

In Nume: a skipped workout is dropped, so nothing piles onto the next one. After two missed sessions in a row, the next two are made easier, and the first session back after time away is lighter.

5. Does it fit the days you actually have?

Many plans are written for a week with nothing else in it. Go through your real week and ask:

• Which days can you train, and for how long? Does the plan still work in a week where you make three of its five sessions?
• Who cooks, and will they cook these dishes?
• Where do you eat on workdays? Is there an option for a takeaway, a canteen or a restaurant?
• How many times do you actually eat in a day? Some people eat twice, some six times.
• What does the plan say about a day that goes differently: a missed session, a big lunch, a trip?

In the accounts we read of why people stopped, more than a quarter named a life event or a change in schedule.

In Nume: this is where most of the work goes. Meals sit at your own eating times, one to six, in dishes from the cuisines you eat. Eating out is part of the plan: name the place or snap the menu, and Nume picks what to order. When a meal runs heavier or lighter than planned, the rest of the day changes and says why. On a trip, you choose to keep training, keep it light or take a break, and meals follow where you are.

If it fails one check

Fix that one thing and begin. If you have no plan yet, see where to start at the gym and what to eat.

Bring your plan to Nume

Nume takes the plan you already have. Paste or type it into Talk, or send up to four photos of it: a dietitian’s chart, a trainer’s message, a day from another app.

Nume reads it and shows you one card with what it found, laid out by eating time and by day. Anything it couldn’t place is listed separately. If something doesn’t fit what you’ve told Nume, such as a food you never eat, it tells you in a line or two. One tap saves the plan, and one Undo takes it back out.

What Nume keeps from your plan:

• Your amounts. “150 g chicken breast and 1 cup of rice” stays 150 g and 1 cup. Anything without an amount, Nume sizes around them.
• Your options. “Fish or paneer” rotates through the week.
• Supplements and medicines on the plan, as regular items in your own words.
• Your coach’s training days and session lengths, marked as your coach’s. Nume plans your food around those sessions and never rewrites them.

From then on your plan runs like any other day in Nume: logged with a tap, a sentence or a photo, and changed from what happened. If the plan came from ChatGPT, see how Nume and ChatGPT compare.

Checked on 12 November 2026 · The Nume team