Weight loss and perseverance
That's the elephant in the room here... Muscle mass will cause the body to burn calories at a much faster rate.
As it is said in the computer world, "garbage in, garbage out". Weigh gain is caused by putting too much of the wrong stuff in your mouth, while ignoring the good things that will help to keep the weight off.
You have to eat smart.
BTW, my wife is a Dr. which leads me to the other elephant in the room. Med school does NOT teach you proper nutrition. My wife and I used to go round and round about this.. she gave up, when I was able to demonstrate she was educated upon many flawed presumptions.
My case and point. In the photo of me to the left (avatar) I weight 240 lbs. Do I look fat?
5' 9" (the BMI scale is total BS)
Before my accident, I was eating 200 grs of protein a day, about the same in carbs, and I NEVER counted calories, (mainly cause I wasn't eating the calorie dense crap that causes weight gain) and weighed a lean 217. (19" arms, 52" chest, legs were 29")
I'm not trying to be a hero here... but I would like to stress conventional thinking leaves out a truck load of factors. In fact, they are ignored.
You probably know more about this than I do, but I think I know what you are saying, but for those that don't know, the basic gist is this... (Please correct me if I am wrong)
Lean muscle, burns more calories at rest. The more lean muscle you have, the more energy your body uses just sitting there. Like having a HEMI idle versus a /6. it uses more fuel. Now, add moderate activity, ie. step on the throttle and use even more fuel.... You're going to see even more progress. Lean doesn't mean HUGE. You don't need to be a beast.
When I was in the service, I went to see the Doc and another guy was waiting as well. got talking and he was there to have his weight evaluated to get a waiver.... The dude was jacked. 220, and about 7 percent body fat. Standards are good sometimes, but they serve a different purpose than your fitness to be sure.
My own story...
Ripped as a youngin' from racing BMX bikes. 185, 5%. 5'10"
Less ripped as a young adult, maybe 8%
Stayed about the same for 4 years as a Marine.
Went to college, met a gal and we had kids.... got fat.
In Jan I was 326..... oof... Decided carrying around a small child all day, every day, was not going to cut it.
Weighed myself this morning at 255 and some change.
Important note... I did NOT do this on my own. My wife has helped immensely by making better meals with our health as the motivation and we encourage each other all the time. I notice changes in her as well, but she didn't believe me until we took some pictures at my second sons graduation. 20 lbs on her 5'3" frame made a huge difference. When she finally say the pictures, she was very excited and for once I got to say "Told ya so" and not get my *** whooped. :)
I haven't felt this good for 20 years. I can move, I can work on my cars, I can do the every day things I should be doing without feeling like I'm going need a break every 10 minutes and with any luck I'll be able to walk my daughter (youngest of 4) down the aisle when the time comes. With even more luck, see my eldest walk my grand daughter down as well.
@Ddaddy , keep up the fight, keep the goals in mind and keep showing people that perseverance, and complete resignation to a cause, gets results. Well done... slow clap, from one fat guy turned not so fat, to another... Keep on ....