Getting back at it, food issue

[Odines]

Long time lurker, first time poster. In fact I used this forum as a reference guide the first time I lost weight (excellent info when compiled together). Quick back story.

~7 years ago I was ~220, 30+% body fat (I'm 5' 10"). Never really worked out in my life. Got fed up, went hardcore with food,exercise, weight training. In ~4-5 months (maybe a little longer) I shed down to 155, 9% body fat, etc. Gym 5-6 days a week, 3-4 hours a day.

Yay, I know, I was happy. To an extent. The problem was, even though I was extremely fit/lean/strong, I was very, very skinny. Like size 28 waist (was at 38). I couldn't put on mass, I just couldn't eat enough.

Fast forward to present day and I'm back to ~225, 34% BF. Let myself go for the last few years, my company got busy, i got lazy, <insert random excuse>. Due to health issues I've been having, a lack of energy, and overall being angry at myself for letting it happen again, I started back at the Gym hardcore again last week. I'm 33, and figure this time I need to make it stick. Same strategy. I'm on like day 9.

This time around though I'm keeping a food journal, working with a PT (first full session tomorrow), and I want to do it right. What that means is, I don't want to move down to THAT skinny. So I'm trying to keep a smaller deficit, and I'm struggling, I really am. I of course want to lose wieght, and gain back muscle (weight first as a priority). I don't care if I'm huge, this is for health, but I would like some larger definition this time around. For example, yesterday:

Whey (500), banana/apple (300), chicken + brussel sprouts(600), trailmix(350) (almonds, raisains, pumpkin seeds, sunflowerseeds, etc), tuna fish sandwich (400) (greek yogurt instead of mayo, whole wheat bread). My daily food intake doesn't change much from this, usually more vege's (broc, spinach, carrots, kale, beets, peppers, mushrooms, you name it, I like everything) and I rotate fish in 2x per week, and red meat once.

The above food put me ~2200 calories. My workout yesterday (I use a polar heart monitor, etc) was mostly lifting and then some HIIT (light, as my i'm giving my body time to adjust so I don't injure myself. 1 minute sprints, 2 minute fast walks) for ~30m. Heart still spiked to the 170 level, down to 150 between sprints. So yesterday at the gym, burned around 1 to 1.2k calories. Putting my net to ~1k. My BMR is ~2500/2600 (based off a machine, my calculations show it much higher based on HMR). My PT wants me at no less than 1800. Unfortunately, my entire last week looked like this. 1, to 1.5k deficit each day.

Even though I'm a fatty right now, I just can't bring myself to eat that much. I refuse to do anything less than 5 days at the gym a week simply because when I'm this motivated, I want to ride it out to its fullest potential. You'd figure since I've lived on fast food the last few years I'd be starving every day and that's just not the case. I should also note I have TONS of energy right now. Basically this is the same thing that happened to be last time I did this, just no hunger, at least not enough to eat appropriate cals. So I'm wondering if there's a way around this or if I should just ride it out until I've shed ~40 lbs and worry about it then. I'm extremely disciplined when I want to be, my energy levels are crazy high right at the moment, when I start to feel a crash if any, I make sure to force myself to eat.

Supplements
2x fish oil
1 daily
loads of whey
NO2 (just started this yesterday).
Drink over 200oz water a day (I've always drank water)


Last week I spent a day eating prime rib, baked potato, asparagus, so that was a very heavy meal and ended up putting me to ~2.2k by the end of it (post workout) but I can't imagine a 1k+ meal in one sitting is healthy. I'm an info sponge, I just haven't been able to find something that fits for me because I DO still want to lose weight, I just don't want to end up a stick again in a few months and more importantly I don't want my body to go into starvation mode and hinder progress. I realize everyone's different, I just find that I have so much trouble consuming food. Should I be concerned? What are my options? Eat higher cal foods purposely like more nuts, fruits, etc? Should I incorporate a cheat day, or would that make no difference because it's just one day? Ride it out for a month or two then figure something out from there after I shed 40-50 lbs and get to a healthier weight? I know I'm only like 9 days in and might be jumping the gun here, but I know my body to some extent and this is like de ja vu.

Also greetings, and thanks for being a nice motivational community and information resource, as I stated previously, this forum was pretty much my guardian angel years back when I did this, and will likely be so again.


Edit: Also an additional. Is metabolism spiking a myth? Keep in mind I own my own company, I still work a ton, I can't really focus on eating 24/7 every day. But I can load up every few days. Would this help limit starvation mode if it's going to happen? ie: Monday 1k calories, Tuesday 2k calories. Just an example. Thanks again.

[DyingAtheist]

Starvation mode is an absolute myth, well, to the point where it's certainly nothing you have to worry about. It really only comes into play (IE: your metabolism only starts to slow down) after a very prolonged period of low calories. Anyway. I'm the same as you to some extents, I find it very hard to eat enough to actually get a reasonable calorie amount whilst cutting - the answer for me was pretty much what you said, nuts etc.
I mean, a tablespoon of peanut butter can push 200 calories, no reason you can't get 3 of those down you a day.

PS : Bear in mind you're probably burning less calories than you think you are at the gym, as happens with most people.

[Odines]

Starvation mode is an absolute myth, well, to the point where it's certainly nothing you have to worry about. It really only comes into play (IE: your metabolism only starts to slow down) after a very prolonged period of low calories. Anyway. I'm the same as you to some extents, I find it very hard to eat enough to actually get a reasonable calorie amount whilst cutting - the answer for me was pretty much what you said, nuts etc.
I mean, a tablespoon of peanut butter can push 200 calories, no reason you can't get 3 of those down you a day.

PS : Bear in mind you're probably burning less calories than you think you are at the gym, as happens with most people.

Ya I was thinking almond butter or peanut butter, not hard to stuff that down. Or making my shakes more elaborate rather than just whey (add fruit, peanut butter, whatever I find). As far as calories burned at the gym, what I do is use a HRM , not a machine one, an actual strap (polar) I was under the impression these were very accurate, then subtract 150 calories per hour I'm there, to come up with my total. Is this not accurate? I figure that will balance out my BMR.

Feel better knowing that I don't have to worry about an extreme deficit though, thanks. It'd be horrible if I was messing up my calculations everywhere thinking I was at a deficit when I wasn't.