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They use the term "eating freely" which to me would imply the option to consume nothing but popcorn and McDonalds. Or at least the option to eat as many calories as desired.

To have a caloric restriction below 2000 per day is a restricted diet to me - not that that's bad.

2000 is not at all accurate for most Americans sedentary lifestyle.

Yeah, and having a single number makes no sense because on average men and woman have different requirements. I live a well above average active lifestyle and my maintenance is in the ballpark of 1400/day.

My annoyance with all of these numbers is they are meaningless without some measure of size.

I'm literally twice the size of my friend, at the same BMI (more than a foot taller). So should I be eating 3400? Or should they be eating 850?

I think I have the answer.

You're supposed to:

- count your calories and maintain the same calorie intake for a while

- measure your body weight or other metric you want to change throughout

So, if you're eating 2,500 calories a day and see you're gaining weight, you have a baseline you want to go below to lose weight.