Chef AJ vs Lean With Plants: Same Calorie Density, Different Support

We teach the same science Chef AJ helped popularize. The difference is strictness, and who is standing next to you while you use it.

By Chelsea Mae · September 28, 2026 · 10 min read

Chef AJ's Ultimate Weight Loss and Lean With Plants teach the same core science: calorie density, eating a large volume of low-density whole plant foods, and never counting, weighing or measuring anything. The difference is almost entirely in the strictness and the support. Chef AJ's approach is SOS-free (no oil, sugar or salt, and in her Ultimate Weight Loss teaching no flour, alcohol or caffeine), delivered through a recorded seminar program and a community membership. Lean With Plants is a 12-week one-on-one plant-based weight loss coaching program for women founded by Chelsea Mae Cullen, where a dedicated coach messages you daily in the LWP app and optimizes your plate rather than banning whole categories. We have coached over 3,000 women and the average client loses around 18 pounds in 12 weeks. Many of them arrived already knowing Chef AJ's work.

Everything we say about Chef AJ below comes from her public website and published materials. Competitor details were last checked against their public website in September 2026 and may change. We have a great deal of respect for Chef AJ, who has interviewed Chelsea on her YouTube show, and this is not an argument about who is right on food.

What does Chef AJ teach?

Chef AJ is the author of The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss, written with Glen Merzer. Her website describes her food as oil-free, refined sugar-free and salt-free (SOS-free), and her Ultimate Weight Loss teaching, as set out in the book, also removes flour, alcohol and caffeine.

The engine underneath it is calorie density. Her phrase, from the book, is "eat to the left of the red line": the low-density foods that sit on the left of a calorie density chart (vegetables, fruit, potatoes and other starches, whole grains, legumes) are the ones you eat freely, and the dense foods on the right (nuts, seeds, dried fruit, oils, processed foods) are the ones that keep people stuck. There is no counting, weighing or measuring. You eat until you are full, from the left side of the line.

Her Ultimate Weight Loss online program, as described on its site, is a recorded seminar (about four hours of video plus audio), a 21-day recipe guide, replays of group coaching calls, a calorie density chart and a private peer Facebook group (the page notes that Chef AJ herself does not post in it). Her current community offer is the "Chef AJ and Friends" membership, which her site says includes access to her courses, monthly live cooking demos, weekly live events and expert Q&As. Prices are on her sites; we do not repeat them here.

Where does Lean With Plants agree with Chef AJ?

On the science, almost completely. We want to give credit where it belongs: calorie density as a weight loss tool was popularized by Dr. John McDougall, Jeff Novick and Chef AJ, and everything we teach on the nutrition side stands on that work.

The points of agreement:

• Calorie density decides the outcome. Oil is roughly 4,000 calories per pound. Non-starchy vegetables are roughly 100 calories per pound. That is about a 40x difference, and it is why two "healthy" plates can produce wildly different results. See calorie density explained.
• Never count, weigh or measure. Your stomach measures volume and weight, not calories. Build the plate right and the calories take care of themselves.
• Volume is the point. Both approaches have you eating more food, not less. Nobody at Lean With Plants is told to eat a small portion.
• Oil is the biggest single lever. Chef AJ says no oil. We teach that oil is the most calorie-dense thing in your kitchen and coach clients to get it off the plate for weight loss. We wrote about that in healthy vegan food and oil keeping you stuck.
• Whole plant foods first. Potatoes, rice, beans, lentils, fruit and vegetables are the base of both plates. Our love of the potato is on record in the potato, the most underrated weight loss food.

Many women who apply to Lean With Plants have already read The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss. They know the red line. The question they arrive with is not "what should I eat" but "why can I not keep doing it".

Where does Lean With Plants differ?

Six places, and none of them are about the science.

1. We are not strictly SOS-free. Chef AJ removes categories: oil, sugar, salt, flour, alcohol and caffeine. We optimize plates instead. A client who wants a splash of soy sauce, a slice of sourdough or a morning coffee is coached on where those fit rather than told they are off-limits. Some clients end up close to SOS-free because it works for them. Others do not, and they still lose weight. Strict rules suit some people very well, and for the people they do not suit, they become the reason to quit.

2. You do not have to be 100% plant-based. Lean With Plants is a vegan company, and we would love everyone to eat that way, but 80 to 90% plant-based works. More broccoli, less burgers, leaner belly. See do you have to be vegan for Lean With Plants.

3. Women only. Chef AJ's work is for everyone. Lean With Plants coaches only women, and most are in their forties, fifties and sixties, which shapes everything from how we talk about menopause to how we build strength.

4. Daily one-on-one coaching. This is the big one. Chef AJ's model is a recorded program and a community membership, with peer support. At Lean With Plants you have a dedicated coach who messages you daily in the LWP app, looks at photos of your plate, and works with you until you can build a weight-loss-optimized plate anywhere. She is a real person, not a bot and not a group chat with 200 women. There is also a weekly community group coaching call and a Q&A every two weeks with Chelsea or Ami-James Deane, our Head of Coaching. We explain the difference in Lean With Plants vs group coaching.

5. Strength from Rep Zero. Chef AJ's materials, as far as we could confirm, focus on food. Ours has a fitness pillar that starts at Rep Zero: building the habit of showing up, then strength to protect bone density and muscle as you lose weight.

6. A 12-week structure and a habit system. The STACK Method is three or four tiny daily habits, about two minutes each, stacked until they run without willpower, because food knowledge is not what fails people in month four. See what is the STACK Method.

How do they compare side by side?

Who should choose Chef AJ?

Chef AJ is the better fit if you:

• Want the strictest, clearest food rules. SOS-free removes every gray area, and for some people that is exactly what makes it work.
• Are self-directed. If you read a book and then do the thing, you may not need a coach at all.
• Want community at a lower commitment than one-on-one coaching. Her membership is built for that.
• Are a man. Lean With Plants does not coach men.
• Want to learn from one of the people who brought calorie density to the plant-based world in the first place.

Who should choose Lean With Plants?

Lean With Plants is the better fit if you:

• Are a woman in your forties, fifties or sixties who already knows calorie density and cannot make it stick.
• Have started and stopped strict plans more than once. Beth had tried more than 40 diets before us. Sam lost close to 70 pounds once she had real accountability, and says plainly that she already knew the information.
• Want a real person looking at your actual plate every day and adjusting for your actual week.
• Do not want to be 100% strict. You want a coffee, and you want to lose weight, and you would like both.
• Want strength and habits built in, not just food.
• Want a defined 12 weeks with a specific target. Charlene lost 15 pounds in 12 weeks ahead of hip surgery and broke an all-or-nothing mindset; she said she "finally felt free".

If you have already done Chef AJ's work and it stuck, you do not need us. If you know every word of it and still cannot keep the weight moving, that is the exact gap coaching exists for. We describe it in weight loss accountability.

What does each one cost?

Chef AJ publishes her membership price on her community site; we do not repeat competitor prices here. Lean With Plants does not publish a price. It is discussed on a free 45-minute Zoom call with someone from the LWP team, because people who see a number first rarely have the conversation that tells them whether it solves their problem. It is not cheap, and it is not comparable to a book or a membership, but it is not the number most women imagine either. We partner with Klarna and Affirm for payment plans. The reasoning is in how much does Lean With Plants cost.

Frequently asked questions

Is Lean With Plants the same as Chef AJ's Ultimate Weight Loss? Same science, different delivery. Both use calorie density with no counting. Chef AJ is SOS-free and self-directed, with a peer community. Lean With Plants is women-only, one-on-one, coached daily, and optimizes plates rather than removing categories.

Do I have to give up oil at Lean With Plants? For weight loss we coach oil off the plate, because it is the most calorie-dense food in your kitchen. Unlike a strict SOS-free approach, we do not ban salt, flour, caffeine or a glass of wine on principle; your coach helps you place them.

Can I follow Chef AJ's approach while in the program? Yes, and some clients do. Her approach is SOS-free and built on calorie density, so food made that way fits the plate we teach. Your coach will simply help you build the rest of the week around it.

Is Chef AJ's program open right now? At the time of writing her Ultimate Weight Loss online program page and the "Chef AJ and Friends" membership are both live on her sites; check there for current details.

Does Lean With Plants work if I am already whole food plant-based? That is the most common client we have. Chelsea was vegan for over a decade and still stuck. The issue is usually density (nuts, nut butters, dressings, oil, convenience foods) and consistency, and a coach can see both in your photos. See why vegans gain weight.

Who popularized calorie density? Dr. John McDougall, Jeff Novick and Chef AJ did more than anyone to bring it to the plant-based world. We teach the same principle and are glad to say so. Our comparison with Dr. McDougall's program is in The Starch Solution vs Lean With Plants.

Want to talk it through?

If Chef AJ's approach is working for you, keep going. If you know the red line by heart and the scale still is not moving, apply and book a free strategy call. It is a 45-minute Zoom call with someone from the LWP team about where you are, what caused the weight gain, your real goal, and what it would take to close the gap. If we do not think Lean With Plants will work for you, we will say so.

Related comparison: Healthy Emmie's Slim (Slim on Starch) vs Lean With Plants.