>>19 purely calorie counting only number I focus on at all, my diet isn't focused on only eating a certain kind of thing or avoiding anything much in specific (that being said, potato chips and soda are the devil for losing weight; it's also surprising how much better ice cream is a snack than you'd expect - it isn't low calorie, but it's not really that much of a hit either)
2 meals a day, and I completely killed my soda intake (200+ cals for merely 16oz) in favor of unsweetened green tea and if I'm not home, Arizona drinks (a whole big-ass 22oz can often comes in better than a 16oz Coke; the Arnold Palmer Lite comes in way better) and vitamin water (80-100cal/bottle) as a result, I cut my liquid calories in half in the least favorable conditions, and I do better than that most days
in general, I'm eating under 1800cal/day just about every day, and often under 1600 half a prepackaged sub at the grocery is less than 600cal (it claims less than 500 on the package, I don't know how much I believe that, and since they're made in store daily, the weight of each sub definitely fluctuates), and with a sub-150cal drink, I have a whole, reasonably filling meal if I do that twice a day, and then have maybe 200cal in snacks, worst case is still like 1700cal (750*2+200), and I know for certain I am overestimating those numbers (I am not drinking a whole 22oz can at once, and my second meal is often at home, so I'll have green tea for 0 cal, or a vitamin water for 80cal)
I don't know my real average, I haven't kept a log (and there are days where I have eaten out at a restaurant and totally had like 800cal+200cal+200cal in one meal, but they're very rare, and my second meal for the day was probably still under 800cal, possibly even way under) extend that over maybe half a year at this point, but I can't remember when I started I'm not super picky about what I eat, just how often I eat, and I round up my numbers
my day job is relatively active (warehouse work), so my base caloric rate is generally over 2000cal/day, and I'm not particularly scrawny (I do think I have lost a little muscle in this process, although not as much as I had feared), so I'd expect to have a bit of leeway too
purely calorie counting
only number I focus on at all, my diet isn't focused on only eating a certain kind of thing or avoiding anything much in specific (that being said, potato chips and soda are the devil for losing weight; it's also surprising how much better ice cream is a snack than you'd expect - it isn't low calorie, but it's not really that much of a hit either)
2 meals a day, and I completely killed my soda intake (200+ cals for merely 16oz) in favor of unsweetened green tea and if I'm not home, Arizona drinks (a whole big-ass 22oz can often comes in better than a 16oz Coke; the Arnold Palmer Lite comes in way better) and vitamin water (80-100cal/bottle)
as a result, I cut my liquid calories in half in the least favorable conditions, and I do better than that most days
in general, I'm eating under 1800cal/day just about every day, and often under 1600
half a prepackaged sub at the grocery is less than 600cal (it claims less than 500 on the package, I don't know how much I believe that, and since they're made in store daily, the weight of each sub definitely fluctuates), and with a sub-150cal drink, I have a whole, reasonably filling meal
if I do that twice a day, and then have maybe 200cal in snacks, worst case is still like 1700cal (750*2+200), and I know for certain I am overestimating those numbers (I am not drinking a whole 22oz can at once, and my second meal is often at home, so I'll have green tea for 0 cal, or a vitamin water for 80cal)
I don't know my real average, I haven't kept a log (and there are days where I have eaten out at a restaurant and totally had like 800cal+200cal+200cal in one meal, but they're very rare, and my second meal for the day was probably still under 800cal, possibly even way under)
extend that over maybe half a year at this point, but I can't remember when I started
I'm not super picky about what I eat, just how often I eat, and I round up my numbers
my day job is relatively active (warehouse work), so my base caloric rate is generally over 2000cal/day, and I'm not particularly scrawny (I do think I have lost a little muscle in this process, although not as much as I had feared), so I'd expect to have a bit of leeway too