everyone is different, but I am losing at 1500-1700 calories a day (as long as I dont stray from my plan). I think you could go up if you wanted to. You dont want to go so low, and then have to stay very low at maintenence.
as for the other stuff. I use the daily plate. I try to keep protein at 100 g or more a day, fiber at 25 g or more, low sodium, low sugar..but TDP will guide you with the percentages. I thought this was all confusing at first, but you get used to it. good luck
the more sodium you eat, the more water you should drink. Salt doesn't necessarily make you fat, but it does cause you to retain water which bloats you. drinking more water will flush out the salt and prevent the water retention. (you probably already know this, but just incase