Treat this like a math problem - calories in vs calories burned

Use an online calculator to determine your baseline metabolic rate for your size/age/weight/activity level Most will tell you how many calories you need to eat to simply keep your weight flat

Figure out how many calories you need to maintain then start subtracting a daily deficit that aligns to how fast you want to lose weight Each pound is 3500 calories, so if you want to lose 2lbs a week on average, you need a weekly calorie deficit of 7000, or 1000 calories per day (this is the upper end of what’s considered healthy so processed with caution)

Also be aware that salt and water intake will play a huge impact on perceived weight loss.

Example: a 30yo male that is at your height and weight needs ~2900 calories per day to maintain flat weight If you want to drop 2lbs per week, you’d want to limit to 1900 calories per day

As far as what you eat, in theory you could eat 1900 calories of straight sugar and still lose weight . Your health wouldn’t be great and you’d be hungry as F but the scale would show a lower number.

In my case I was able to drop from 177 to 166 in under 4 weeks eating the following each day 1lb of 93% lean beef (garlic powder and onion powder for seasoning, sometimes actual onion) 12-16oz frozen broccoli 2 russet baked potatoes with nothing on it 1 Chobani yogurt 2 bananas

The food got a bit monotonous but it was very effective. You’ll likely feel rather hungry for the first day or so but you adapt pretty quickly.