Still following the thread. Doing alright diet wise. Fell off the exercise wagon. I still have a little GAF left, cause it’s concerning me. Need to get back on the wagon. Overall, weight has been stable without the exercise.
Stable is good considering where you started. It means you're making long term changes, because you used to be gaining. Studies show you need to take weight off and keep it off about a year for it to really be a permanent change.
If you're struggling with GAF, try mixing things up. I'm not usually a fan of weight lifting for weight loss. It doesn't burn calories as fast as cardio, and you can actually gain weight if you lift hard so it can be demotivating. But you've got a long term plan and sometimes you need to do something different to keep your motivation.
So maybe you keep eating well, but instead of tracking minutes of activity, just try to add in some kind of strength or flexibility training. You aren't trying to get jacked, just think of it as an investment - you add muscle today, and it burns calories tomorrow and every day in the future. But it's also good for a couple other reasons.
Strength - especially core strength - can make a huge difference in quality of life. A strong core can help with back pain, ability to walk or run or do other sporty things, and tightening up your appearance.
You're struggling with motivation and changing things up keeps it fun. You seem to respond well to challenges so maybe try three or four days a week of weights, or try 30 days of yoga with Adriene on YouTube like a couple of us are doing. You don't need to make a huge daily time commitment, just pick something that moves you forward towards your goals without requiring too much GAF.
And then the other reason is that you have mentioned a goal of losing a large amount, and that often means extra skin. A zig zag down might actually be helpful in letting your skin reshape itself to your new size after some weight loss, and muscle helps with that too. How cool would it be to not only get healthy but get hot.
You can do this dude. If you need help or motivation then make sure you keep posting here because we are all rooting for you.
Reminder that I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before beginning this or any diet or exercise plan.