NurseKim_ATL said:

On a suppressed appetite the winning strategy is protein density per unit of volume, not per calorie.

I will push back on the powder-first advice. It works and it also trains people out of eating food, and when the drug stops the habits are what remain. Getting protein from meals is slower and holds up better afterwards.

One concrete data point for the thread. Worth stating the units and the reference range whenever you post a number here. A large fraction of the apparent disagreement in these threads is two people using different units and both being right.

PurityPaulOR said:

I will push back on the powder-first advice.

Adding the part of the answer the thread has not reached. Whatever the answer turns out to be, the method for getting there is the same: state the assumption, do the arithmetic in public, and invite the correction. That is slower than asserting, and it is the only version that survives being wrong.

One thing that is still open after mark_tokyo’s answer:

Whether the RDA is the wrong reference entirely during rapid weight loss, and what the actual target should be?

Closing the loop on my own question.

Update: two thirds of the target before midday. Same total, same appetite, and I am hitting it most days now.