The diet I’ve been using is very simple, and has 1 solid rule: Eat 1,500 calories per day. That amount of calories might be different for everyone, but it’s what I’ve been following since I weighed 255 pounds, and it’s what I’m still following while currently weighing 165 pounds. It can be adjusted up and down depending on how fast you want to lose weight. I don’t specifically ban any certain types of foods, or only focus on eating certain things. I tend to eat a large variety of food, but specifically try to stay under 1,500 calories each day. Some days it’s not possible (holidays for example), but it doesn’t mean you just give up and go crazy either. There are days where I’ll know in advance I might be having a business lunch at a restaurant with very limited choices for low calorie foods. In these situations, I’ll sometimes skip breakfast to have a larger calorie allowance for lunch.
Focusing on lean, high protein foods, and other healthy foods will help you not feel like you’re starving all day long. The 1 “staple” in my diet is eggs. I eat tons of eggs. A typical day for me might look something like this:
Breakfast: 4 eggs smothered with salsa. I cook them in a sandwich maker, with a bit of Pam spray. This is the sandwich maker that I have: Proctor Silex Sandwich Toaster Total breakfast calories come out to an even 300 (280 for 4 large eggs, and 20 for the salsa).
Lunch: I eat out with my co-workers pretty much every day, or else with my family on Saturdays. This is where my low calorie fast food options come into play. I typically try to shoot for 500 calories for lunch.
Dinner: Fast food again? (Sometimes!). If we aren’t eating out again, we do try to cook something relatively healthy for dinner. This is the toughest decision of the day, and not eating a ton of leftovers can also be challenging. I try to shoot for 700 calories for dinner, and often eat things like stir fry with lots of lean meat and veggies, or else pork loin roasts or boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins, all with lots of veggies.
Beverages: Don’t drink calories. Ever. Diet soda, black coffee (with Splenda so it doesn’t taste as terrible), and water are what keep me going. If you’re trying to maintain a low calorie diet and are drinking calories, you’re going to be either starving or else going over your daily calorie limit (by a lot).
On the weekends, I tend to sleep in, and skip breakfast. This leaves room for a small dessert on Saturdays. On Sundays, I’ll usually just eat eggs for lunch, and then eat dinner at my parent’s house, so I have plenty of calories to spare for whatever is served for dinner.