To lose weight I stick with 1500 cal/day. That averages about 2lb/week. More cals than that and progress can be too slow and discouraging. Even with that, there are times where loss seems to plateau for a couple of weeks.

With reduced intake, I try to eat foods with good nutritional value, that is food containing other important nutrients. Protein is important for active and older people to help forestall sarcopenia. I try to get around 100gm a day which accounts for 400 of the 1500 cal I eat when dieting. And by 100gm of protein, I'm mean spherically protein, not 100 cal of meat, fish etc, each of which would have less than 100 cal of protein.

What works for me likely won't work for many others.