Thread: Getting started with diet plan - looking for input

My girlfriend is interested in losing 20-30lbs of weight. She has tried "quick-fix" diet plans before but they haven't given her the permanent results she's looking for. She's now looking to put together a sensible, realistic, long-term, diet plan that can help her achieve her goals in the next 6 months and beyond.

She will be engaging in light to moderate exercise program to help her get into shape but obviously the vast majority of her success will come from nutrition choices.

Here is some statistics on her:
33 years old, 5' 7", 180lbs
Healthy but is taking medication for hyperthyrodism
Seditary to slightly-active lifestyle (willing to get more into exercise along with diet)

Because she's currently eating anything and everything we're trying to focus on the following three factors to start things off: 1) calorie restriction, 2) calories coming from good food choices, and 3) high protein + fibre daily to stimulate weight loss. Also, she will try to focus on eating more frequently throughout the day with smaller portions per meal. Obviously, best results would come from her cutting out "bad" food completely but because she loves her sweets and salty snacks and since we're trying to make this a long-term, REALISTIC, positive change I guess it would be okay for her to munch on 200 cal worth of junk/day provided the rest of her diet is in check. I don't want her to feel like just because she cheats on her food choices (and she will cheat) that she has failed miserably and wants to throw her diet out the window right away. The idea is portion control: 90% healthy + 10% unhealthy vs. 50% healthy vs. 50% unhealthy choices where she's pretty much at now.

Basically I'm thinking this:
6 meals/day (3 main + 3 snacks)
Each meal will contain good ratio of protein/fiber/carbs (higher protein + fibre content with carbs being there but at minimum)
Snacks would consist of fruits/veggies/yogurt/cheese
Protein would come from: Tuna/chicken/beef sources
Carbohydrate from: bread/cereal/fruits/veggies
Fibre would come from cereal that she enjoys eating and other foods

It's been a while since I've had to recommend a long-term diet plan to anyone and never for a woman so I'm hoping some of you can comment on what I wrote, maybe throw some constructive suggestions my way and I'm also looking if someone can list some good food choices ex. fruits/veggies/etc that they feel are good choices to promote weight loss. Any good supplements out there these days? Anything that could help would be great! Thanks guys.

This is right up Built's alley. Wait for her response.