Two thousand calories a day is what an average woman should eat to maintain her weight and what the average man would aim for to lose a few pounds. If your diet contains plenty of fruit, vegetables, water and protein, 2,000 calories can seem like a lot. But if your diet is full of fried and fatty foods, you may still be hungry even after consuming all those calories. Space your eating out at regular intervals throughout the day. To keep a closer track of what you're eating, keep a food diary with you to write it down.
Breakfast
As your first meal of the day, you should enjoy a balanced and relatively calorific breakfast. This is what sets you up for the day ahead. Good breakfasts include fruit and yogurt with some granola at about 400 calories or two slices of whole-wheat toast with a banana spread on top at 300. White bread, meat and cakes will increase your calories so you don't have many left for the day.
Lunch
You need a lunch with slow-release carbohydrates to get you through the afternoon. A tuna-filled jacket potato is a great idea, as it contains 345 calories and plenty of protein to keep you alert. Salads or soup are also a great idea, but be careful of thick and creamy dressings and soup flavors, as they can have hundreds of calories more than watery varieties. Don't be tempted by fast food; for example, a 6-inch Meatball Marinara sub from Subway has about 560 calories.
Dinner
To keep within your 2,000 calories, you need this meal to be heavy on fruit and vegetables. Have a fruit salad for dessert or a garden salad for a starter. Bulk up main meals such as spaghetti bolognaise and chili with vegetables to make sure your daily quota comes in at less than 2,000 calories. Always choose lean meats and poultry rather than fatty meats that are full of cholesterol, calories and saturated fat.
Snacks
Try to snack on carrot or celery sticks dipped in hummus rather than chocolate and cakes, or you will use up your daily calories before dinner. An average doughnut contains 185 calories and a chocolate bar has 300. A cup of dried apricots has 75, a medium banana 86 and an apple 79. Adjust your diet according to what you have already had so far in the day.
Eat Less Calories
There are a few easy ways to drop a few calories. Skip the butter on toast and potatoes, if you have to have something, try a low-fat margarine, but, according to caloriecounter.com, just 1 tbsp of butter contains 102 calories. Mayonnaise is one of the biggest threats to going over your 2,000-calorie limit; it contains 69 calories per tbsp. Drinks can also be a huge downfall for many people; a can of Coke has 139 calories, while a 200 ml glass of orange juice has 88. Alcohol is full of empty calories.
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