1500-1600 calories/day

Those of you who are pulling in about 1500-1600 calories a day -- what does a typical day look like for you?

I'm a 3-meal-a-day kind of girl. My trainer seems to eat (and enjoy) chicken and brown rice for every meal, so I'm not keen on getting his suggestions. I'm a total flavor-*kitten*, so I love to cook and love lots of variety but I struggle to find time to cook lunches (and breakfast most days, so I stick with granola and plain Greek yogurt)... but I'm struggling between not enough calories and too many.

So tell me, MFPers... what are you eating?

Ugh, I'm a total fatty. My struggle is finding a sweet spot between 500 calories and 3,000 calories.
Usually I have coffee, Poptarts, Chef Boyardee, bread and butter and the like.

My goal is 1530. My diary is public, so feel free to have a look.

My diary is open also. I also eat real food, and a lot of vegetables.

I am right around there calorie-wise, sometimes higher or lower depending on how hungry I am. I have the same breakfast every morning, because it is so yummy right now with fresh tomatoes from our farm share or my garden: One slice of bread toasted, then spread with 1oz of brie cheese and topped with a sliced tomato, broiled in the toaster oven for 10 minutes. That plus my coffee is less than 300 calories.

In the winter time, I usually have a slice of toast and some cottage cheese. I don't like heavy breakfasts, I usually exercise pretty soon after breakfast. Then I have a snack soon after getting back from exercise.

I have a few different lunches I cycle through, and dinner is always different but consists of about 4 oz. of a lean meat--and right now we are grilling pretty much everything--one serving of starch, and a lot of veggies.

how do i look at your diary. still new and trying to learn how to get around. thanks

Great topic. I'm eating in this range and would love some new ideas.
My diary is also open if anyone's interested. Not always perfect, plus I took last week off because I needed a break.

Breakfast protein shake
Chia seed pudding
Salads
Lentils (variety of flavorings/spices)
Beans (different types)
Baked potatoes
Greens (all types, kale, spinach, collards)
Veggie burgers
Fresh fruit

I basically eat 5 times/day so I try to keep each meal around 300 calories.

My diary is open. I rarely eat less than 1400 a day, but got over several days a week.

Mine changes regularly because I tend to cycle through whatever I'm eating at the moment (either because of what I'm into at the moment or what's efficient with my last grocery trip) then I move on to something else. So some days it's meat and veggies. Some days it's soup and salads.

A fairly typical day can range from a breakfast of a fritata w/ sour cream, broccoli, and bacon (I make a 3 egg +2 eggwhite fritata then eat half one day, freezing then nuking the other half the next day) w/ coffee + half and half, lunch of leftover chicken and veggie (could be cauliflour+ grape tomatoes, could be zuchini + yellow squash, could be carrots, could be... just about any veggie), dinner might be a roasted chicken leg, half a sweet potato (w/ sour cream and chili powder), and sauteed swiss chard w/ grape tomatoes, with a square of dark chocolate melted and mixed with plain Greek yogurt for dessert.

Today was 1500 +/- calories and consisted of a breakfast of 2 scrambled eggs (+1 eggwhite), a slice of bacon, and coffee (with half and half and stevia), lunch was 1/4 of a (leftover) Panera Bread Chopped Cobb Salad w/ chicken & avocado with 1cup of Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup, afternoon snack (1/2 package) of McCann's Instant Irish Oatmeal w/ a splash of almond milk, dinner 5oz pork chop, collard greens, and "fried" (baked) okra (Yes, I am as Southern as that sounds) with fresh cut canteloupe for dessert (and after 1 1/2 mile walk, 1 square of 72% dark chocolate followed by 1 cup almond-coconut milk).

I generally stick to two meals a day, and intermittent fast.

Meal 1 is usually:

Oatmeal + honey.
half sandwich with avocado or crayfish.
Quest protein bar.
Hard boiled egg.

Meal 2 is usually:

Fish (Cod, salmon or tuna steak) or Seitan.
Baked sweet potato or baby new potatoes.
Tomatoes.
Other Vegetables.
Goat cheese.
Apple.
Greek yoghurt or a fruit jelly with cream.
Small bag of sweet n salt popcorn.

Sometimes I have some chocolate too.

Breakfast: (7-9am)
- Coffee w/ half and half
- Fruit (a pear, or an apple, or 1 cup strawberries or blueberries)
- OR lately my boyfriend has been cooking egg-based things for breakfast. No toast, just eggs with veggies and a little cheese.

2nd Breakfast: (10:30am)
- Greek Yogurt (2 ounces)
- Granola (1/3 cup)
- Strawberries or blueberries (as much as 1 cup)

Lunch: (Noon)
- Some type of rice/bean/chicken type thing with as many veggies as possible. At least 1 cup of chicken

2nd Lunch/Early Dinner: (3-4pm)
- Salad - lots of greens, veggies. I add feta, 1/2 small avocado, and use ranch or blue cheese dressing. This is the one meal of the day where I want to feel as "full" and fatty as possible so I'm not hungry an hour later.

Snacks: (1pm-4pm)
- Goldfish crackers (1/2 cup)
- Cosmos (2.5 cups = 1 serving!)
and/or 1/6 dark chocolate bar

Dinner (6pm-9pm)
By this point I'm usually out of calories, maybe I have 300 left on a good day. Usually it's my afternoon snacks that put me over my limit.

If I have calories left over, I might have a beer if I'm out with friends, or will have 1/6 of a dark chocolate bar, or more fruit, or more fruit/granola/yogurt, or a serving or two of chips/salsa.

take a look at my diary see if that helps.
I found that doing salad twice a day really helps keep the numbers down.