Not working for you? No problem.

Diets are finicky. Sometimes certain diets won't work, sometimes they will. The suggestion of 1 gram per pound of desired body weight, for instance, does not work for me. I can't get as lean as I want with that, so I have to drop 5-10 grams of protein off this count. Remember - it's always up to you to keep track, and make changes along the way. Here's a new diet I'm working on (it's nothing new, and maybe you've come across it):

40/40/20 diet. What this means is 40% of your calories comes from protein, 40% from carbs, and 20% from fat. Here's how you calculate it all out (it's easier than you think):

Take your desired body weight (let's say 165), and multiply that by 10 and by 12. This is your range of calories in a given day. You come up with 1,650 - 1,980 calories per day.

Now take each number, and multiply by 40% and you get 660 and 792. Now, according to nutritional guides and science, 4 calories = 1 gram of protein, and 4 calories = 1 gram of carbs. So, divide each of these numbers by 4, and you have your range for both protein and carbs. So you get 165 - 198 grams of both protein and carbs per day.

Now do the same thing, but instead you are multiplying your range caloric intake by 20% for fat, and instead 9 calories is 1 gram of fat. So after the multiplication process you get 36 - 44 grams of fat per day. If you're still confused about this process, let me quick recap with an example:

1.) Desired body weight (165 lbs.) multiplied by 10 and 12 to get your target range of caloric intake each day. This comes to 1,650-1,980.
2.) 1,650 x 40% = 660; 1,980 x 40% = 792 - This tells you how many calories will be devoted to carbs and protein for the day, but you must convert this into grams.
3.) 660 / 4 = 165; 792 / 4 = 198 - So your range of grams for carbs and protein is 165 - 198 grams.
4.) Repeat this with fat, but instead of 40% you use 20%, and instead of dividing by 4 you divide by 9.

Good luck ;]