@the_d00d Try to balance your calories and macros on more of a weekly scale than a daily one.
I find it helps a lot to make a diet feel more flexible.
If losing weight is the goal, I also found that a severe caloric deficit was more effective than a small one. It’s more motivating when the progress is faster, and there’s also a wider margin of error (in other words, if your deficit is really severe, then even if you eat a little more one day or your metabolic rate is lower than you calculated, you will still be in a pretty solid deficit.)
I’ve been at 1200-1500 calories per day for 6 months now, which includes 75g of protein from powder as well as about 40%of my calories from protein. I’ve lost 58 pounds (272-214) over 24 weeks as of yesterday, which is a little over 2lbs/week so slightly faster than doctors recommend, but I feel really great so don’t want to change anything.
The other unfortunate reality is that there will be a longish period of mild suffering from hunger, it’s worse for the first two weeks but then settles down a decent amount. Find filling foods to help feel less hungry, but really you can actually eat whatever you want as long as you’re tracking calories. I had to accept that it would be around a year of slight discomfort, and that it would be worth it.
In the end it’s not that bad, hunger is actually a lot more temporary than you think sometimes. I’ll feel a pang, but if I push through it only really lasts 5 minutes or so before I forget for a while. The toughest part is the sound my stomach makes at work, it can get pretty loud sometimes and is kind of embarrassing haha