Lean With Plants vs FASTer Way to Fat Loss

Group coaching with macros, fasting and carb cycling, or one-on-one plant-based coaching with none of it.

By Chelsea Mae · September 20, 2026 · 9 min read

FASTer Way to Fat Loss and Lean With Plants both give you a coach, and that is where the similarity stops. FASTer Way, created by Amanda Tress, is a group program built on intermittent fasting, carb cycling, macro tracking and app-based strength and HIIT workouts, delivered in rounds by certified coaches who lead their own groups. Lean With Plants is a 12-week one-on-one plant-based weight loss coaching program for women, founded by Chelsea Mae Cullen, with no fasting protocol, no macro tracking and a one-on-one coach instead of a group cohort. If you want workouts included and you like the energy of a cohort, FASTer Way is a genuinely good fit. If tracking and timing rules are the part that always breaks, that is the reason to look elsewhere.

How FASTer Way to Fat Loss works

The program runs in rounds of about a month and a half, and members often continue in an ongoing membership afterward. The core components:

• Intermittent fasting. An eating window each day, with fasting outside it. The timing is the central discipline of the program.
• Carb cycling. Higher-carb days paired with strength training, lower-carb days paired with HIIT and rest. The variation is deliberate and it follows the training week.
• Macro tracking. You track protein, carbs and fat against targets. This is not optional, it is how the plan is executed.
• Whole food focus. Minimally processed food is emphasized over packaged products.
• Workouts in the app. Strength, HIIT and active recovery sessions, typically around 30 minutes.
• A certified coach and a group. Coaches are certified in the method and run their own cohorts, with community support alongside.

There is a lot to like here, and we will say so clearly. The emphasis on strength training is excellent, and for women in their forties, fifties and sixties, building and holding muscle is one of the highest-value things you can do. The workouts being included in the price is a real advantage over programs that leave you to figure out training on your own. And the community model genuinely carries people. If you are someone who gets fired up by a group all starting on the same Monday, that is not a small thing.

How Lean With Plants works

Lean With Plants is a 12-week coaching program for women, built on three pillars:

1. Nutrition through calorie density. How many calories are packed into a pound of food. Oil is roughly 4,000 calories per pound. Non-starchy vegetables are roughly 100 calories per pound. That 40x difference is why our clients eat a larger physical volume of food, feel full, and lose weight without tracking macros, counting calories or weighing portions. See calorie density explained.
2. Fitness and movement, scaled to your body and your schedule.
3. Accountability and habits, through the STACK Method: small behaviors stacked until the routine runs without effort, so week 13 holds.

You work one-on-one with a dedicated coach who checks in and messages you daily in the LWP app, looks at photos of your plate and coaches you through the week, plus a weekly community group coaching call and a Q&A every two weeks. We have coached over 3,000 women, the average client loses around 18 pounds in 12 weeks, and most are in their forties, fifties and sixties. The full structure is on the how it works page.

Side by side

The real difference: rules you follow versus a plate you build

FASTer Way runs on protocol. Eat in this window. Hit these macros on this kind of day. Train this way. When you follow it, it works, and the structure is precisely what a lot of people want.

Lean With Plants runs on composition. Change what is on the plate so that the volume is high and the density is low, and the calories land where they need to without you managing them. There is no window to stay inside and no target to hit.

Neither is better in the abstract. They fail in different places, and that is what should decide it.

Protocol fails when life does not fit the rules. A 6am start, a dinner out at 8pm, a shift pattern, a holiday, a stretch where you cannot be precious about timing. If the whole system rests on the window and the numbers, an irregular life puts constant pressure on it.

Composition fails when nobody teaches you the exceptions. A plate that looks plant-based can still be dense, because oil, nuts, nut butters, dressings and vegan convenience food are calorie-dense even when they are genuinely healthy. That is the single most common reason women find us, and it is covered in why some vegans gain weight.

There is a second thing worth saying carefully. For some women, a combination of a fasting window and daily macro targets keeps them in a measuring, all-or-nothing relationship with food, where going outside the window or over a number feels like blowing it. If that pattern is familiar to you, more structure of that kind is unlikely to be the fix. We wrote about the loop itself in how to break the binge then restrict cycle. This is a fit question, not a safety claim, and plenty of women do very well with fasting.

Rena was 62 and dealing with post-menopause weight gain. She had said she could never quit sugar. She lost 24 pounds in 12 weeks and went from binge eating to binge-free. Charlene lost 15 pounds in 12 weeks ahead of hip surgery and broke an all-or-nothing mindset she had carried for years. She said she finally felt free. Both of those shifts came from removing rules, not adding them.

Who each one is best for

FASTer Way to Fat Loss is the better choice if you:

• Want workouts included and planned out for you
• Like clear rules, numbers and a protocol to execute
• Thrive in a group, with a cohort starting together and a community around you
• Want to build serious strength and are ready to train several days a week
• Already do well with intermittent fasting, or want to try it in a structured setting
• Eat animal protein and are not looking for a plant-based approach
• Want a shorter commitment to start with

Lean With Plants is the better choice if you:

• Are already plant-based or vegan and not losing weight, which is the most common reason women find us
• Are done with tracking, whether that is macros, calories or points
• Want one coach who knows your history and your week, not a group thread
• Have a schedule that makes a fixed eating window impractical
• Have a history of all-or-nothing swings and want fewer rules, not more
• Are navigating menopause or a long plateau. See the best weight loss approach for menopause
• Want a defined 12 weeks with a specific outcome and a coach accountable for getting you there

"But I like having a group"

Some people genuinely do, and if that is you, take it seriously as a criterion. A group can carry you through a flat week in a way nothing else does, and FASTer Way does community well.

The trade-off is that a group coach is managing many people at once, so the attention is divided by design. Nobody in a cohort of dozens is looking at only your food, only your week, only your history. When you stall, the group answer is usually the general answer.

One-on-one is the opposite trade. You get someone whose entire job is your result: your plateau, your travel schedule, your 9pm, your bad month. You do not give up community entirely, because Lean With Plants also has a weekly community group coaching call and a community inside the LWP app, but the coaching itself is one-on-one. We compare the two models directly in one-on-one coaching vs group weight loss programs.

For what it is worth, Kelsey lost 15 pounds in 12 weeks with us and now does 15 or more pull-ups. Strength and one-on-one nutrition coaching are not opposing choices.

Frequently asked questions

Does Lean With Plants use intermittent fasting? Not as a required protocol. Some clients naturally eat in a narrower window and that is fine, but there is no fasting rule to follow. The approach is about what is on the plate rather than when it is on the plate.

Do I have to track macros with Lean With Plants? No. There is no macro tracking, calorie counting or weighing. Calorie density does the work that tracking would otherwise do, which is the whole point of the method. More on that in Lean With Plants vs MyFitnessPal and calorie counting apps.

Can I do FASTer Way and Lean With Plants at once? We would not recommend running both nutrition systems at the same time, because they are built on different mechanics and you will end up managing two sets of rules. If you love the FASTer Way workouts, keep training and tell your coach what your week looks like.

Will I get enough protein without animal products? Yes, and it is something your coach pays attention to directly, particularly if you are training hard. We cover the practical side in where do you get your protein on a plant-based diet.

Does Lean With Plants include workouts? Fitness and movement is one of the three pillars, scaled to your body and schedule. If a full strength and HIIT workout library is the main thing you are shopping for, be honest with yourself about that, because it is the clearest advantage FASTer Way has.

How much does Lean With Plants cost? We do not publish a number. Nobody running a high-touch, one-on-one coaching program does, because if people saw a number first, most would never have the conversation that shows them whether it solves their problem. It is not cheap, and it is also not the crazy number most people imagine. We partner with Klarna and Affirm for payment plans, and the real number, the one specific to you, your situation and what you need, is talked about on your call. The reasoning is in how much Lean With Plants costs.

How to decide

If you want workouts laid out for you, a protocol to follow and a group starting alongside you, FASTer Way to Fat Loss is a real option and worth looking at properly.

If you have followed protocols before, more than once, and what broke was the tracking or the timing rather than your commitment, adding more rules is unlikely to change the ending. Fewer rules and one person paying attention is a different approach entirely. That is what the coaching program is built on.

Apply here and book a free strategy call. Tell the team what you have already run, and what specifically fell apart, and you will get a straight answer about fit.