<human>: Condense the text into a few key points

Hi!

I've been subscribed to loseit for a while (year and a half probably) to try to motivate myself to get off my ass and do something.

On January 7th I started counting calories. From reading posts on loseit I had noticed that a lot of the biggest success stories on here had 1.500 kcal a day as their caloric limit.

I've stuck pretty religiously to the 1.500 a day, having three days where I go over my limit by more than a few calories (2.200, 2.000 and 1.750). I've been quite a bit under way more often (lowest was ~900 kcal, but that was on accident).

On January 17th I introduced exercise as well and got a personal trainer. I go for a private session three times a week and group boxing aerobics twice a week. The exercise is really intense and exhausting, but I can feel myself getting stronger and more in shape.

Anyway! So far, the biggest loss I've seen is 7 kgs, but it's back down to 6 kgs (as of this morning). Now, for someone who's not as heavy as I, this would probably be huge, but I feel like it's not really that much seeing as I can easily fluctuate 1 kg+ in a day in my normal life.

My question is this: Is 1.500 kcal a day too low for me? I'm a 29 year old male, 185 cm tall and I currently weigh 169 kgs. Am I putting my body in starvation mode, preventing me from losing weight faster?

I know everybody's different, but surely there's some margin of normalcy. I am mainly asking because I've plateaued twice, not losing any weight for several days (one week at one point).

If it is appropriate, great! If not, what should I be aiming for for optimal weight loss? I realize people are different, but generally speaking, what do you say, loseit?
<bot>: I'm a 29 year old male, 185 cm tall and I currently weigh 169 kgs. I started out at 175. I exercise 4-5 times per week. How many calories should I eat per day for optimal weight loss?