I was expecting the political correctness lecture to be fair.
I am afraid that I will hit all my calories just from chicken, this is why I was looking for a template to use and introduce some variety and adjust from there. I looked at eatthismuch.com for food choices but it doesn’t look like fitness oriented. Too much variety and not so ‘clean’ food choices.
I will definitely use your advice and come back with questions or requests for suggestions.
Thank you.
Ok, so what do you weigh, what are your goals and what are you thinking for macros?
For me, I always start with two factors - calories and protein. In this case you have chosen 2000 calories (check) and I usually shoot for 0.8-1.0 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. Carbs and fat can make up the difference in whatever amounts you see fit and it may even be good to very these from day to day.
So, to start you probably want to think of protein sources that can help you reach your goals and create a list. Some if these items should be lean proteins with low carbs, but some can be a mix.
So, a list may have chicken, beef, eggs (whole and egg whites), beef jerky, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, protein powders, fish, and even beans, etc. Whatever you like that has high protein. Start with those.
The rest if your calories can be filled with fats and carbs or even faux-proteins (think bacon in small amounts).
Use veggies as much as you can - they can be low calorie and high volume.
Having some leeway to add a small, controlled amount of "not clean" items can make things more pallet able and make sticking to the diet easier.
For instance, I often make 8 oz. If chicken with a bag of riced cauliflower - and this is just 300 calories with about 45 grams of protein. If I add 70 calories with of sweet and sour sauce or bbq sauce to this, it is still pretty low calorie and doesn't taste like diet food. Of course if I am getting really strict I skip the sauce, but I will only suffer through that for so long. Just one example.
So, start with a list if proteins you like, and then go to a list of foods you like and figure out the nutrition from there.