"9-13 calories per pound of bodyweight is the sweet spot for weight/fat loss"
That's an awesome quote, applying that to myself @ 200 lbs. gives a range 0f 1,800-2,600 calories, which by most kcal counter thinking wouldn't work.
Robert,
congrats on losing the inches. I think it's time to put your scale away for 2-3 weeks. Did you take measurements of the shoulders, chest, stomach (across the navel), waist, thigh and arm? If you do you will get more feedback if you re-measure and weigh yourself in a few weeks.
I understand your paradigm, and those who adhere to kcal counting. However, kcals are determined by burning substances in a bomb calorimeter, extrapolating those results to predict how a body processes substances is confounding, as you are experiencing. Geoff's quote on the range of kcals illustrates this further. We can't pick a target number and adhere to it everyday, every week, etc. and see a linear progression in results. Especially as our bodies are wired for survival, thus resistant to extreme changes placed on it (which is a huge reason we've survived if you think about it).
When I was obese I lost roughly a pound a day for 28 days while doing the lemonade diet (master cleanse). I was short sighted and didn't take accurate data so I can't say what was fat, lean mass, water weight, etc... Would I recommend this approach, or any extreme approach such as the HcG protocol to a friend or client? NOPE, because all these protocols clearly call for as little activity as possible, and I don't know of anyone that can reduce their external stress to a level that would make such an approach healthy. I figured this out the hard way as a few years after the huge weight drop I was going to do the cleanse again for 7-10 days, just to "take a quick ten pounds off" and wound up severely injuring my right lat or trap, resulting in almost no strength training for over 6 months.
I'd suggest the possibility of changing your paradigm to believe your body knows exactly what its doing and it's natural state is being lean and strong. This may sound far-fetched but if you do you'll focus on learning to be increasingly intuitive and give your body exactly what it needs nutritionally, rather than having to force it to change. When it's consistently getting everything it needs to thrive the weight comes off quickly. Why? Our natural, "normal" state is to be lean and strong, most (including myself) have unlearned our natural state to varying degrees by improperly moving, eating, feeling, and most importantly, thinking.
Given the metabolic conditions you said you have I would strongly advise finding a metabolic typing doctor/specialist in your area. Metabolic Typing ( Dr. Mercola has a version called nutritional type which he uses from metabolic typing) is the only system I've seen that uses methods to determine what foods are optimal for you, and in what quantity they should be ingested by looking at how you actually oxidize foods, which branch of y0ur nervous system is dominant, etc. "Miracles" happen once one starts eating optimal foods, and most conditions improve if not dissipate altogether. Ironically, IF and many other practices start occurring on their own once we're eating more intuitively.
I had a client lose 20 pounds in 3 months (she was overweight but by no means heavy) by simply eating for her metabolic type and engaging in Original Strength, FMS, etc. movements. No lifting due to a back injury, just practicing moving correctly.
Your commitment to yourself is awesome, I love when people reach their point where they become willing to do whatever it takes to change. Keep up the work, hope one of these thoughts assists in your process.