So I'm introducing myself?

hello Hayley you've made the first step and thats telling everyone, i can sympathise on the rough childhoold weight and emotional issues, we are very similar in that respect i was always fat to obese as long as i can remember, the only times i wasnt was when i finished high school i took up karate 7 nights a week and after 6 months i also decided to go on a strict no red meat diet, still ate chicken and fish and 3 days a week strictly vegetarian or fruitarian. that got me down to a very low weight after a few years and i kept that up for 6yrs before i lost interest in Karate due to politics and depression due to constant marijuana use amongst other reasons.

for the next almost 16yrs i was constantly depressed and cutting myself off from society as much as possible until my 40th birthday, when i had an apiffany and decded i was sick of being that person joined a gym, cut out all junk foods and junk drinks and cut back my calories by a third atleast.. in tbe past 15+ months i've gone from 112Kgs and over 40% body fat with critical blood pressure to currently 74.5-75Kgs and about 15-17% body fat. I never want to go back to that person.

You can friend me if you like, my diary is open to anyone, i'm on very often (532 day streak and counting). I'm no professional but as i see it the keys are keep moving, eat atleast 1400 calories and work out what best works for your body, which will be different to my body or anyone else's. My TDEE atm is about 2300 calories on an average day excluding intentional exercise. i do atleast 12000 steps a day including a moderately active job.

at 294 lbs i'd think you have a TDEE around 2800 on a lightly active day + your exercise on top, what do you do on non exercise days? anyway if that was the case you could eat around 1800 calories + exercuse calories just aslong as your deficit for the day is around 1000 cals you'd stand to lose 1Kg a week give or take, the body will do it's own thing so theres no magic number. with that much weight (no offense meant) you can undereat and be ok you have alot of reserve for the body to feed off of and you are doing resistance training in some form so you are unlikely to lose lean muscle in the process. I eat 5 meals a day roughly 3hrs apart, i have 2-3 600ml Whey protein shakes a day on average.
you macro's ratio's a good starting point is 40/30/30. thats a nice even balance. Carbs/Proteins/Fats. you need fats just not saturated fats so try to limit those and keep sodium below 2500 unless you are sweating

Now if you have been eating 800-1000 calories for along time your body will have slowed down most likely to conserve as much energy as possible, it's not starvation mode just a slow down to become more efficient either way you dont want to just rush into eating 1800+ again. creap it up to 1200 for a week then 1600+ give the body a bit of time to adjust. and you may be suprised the weight might start falling off again. you can still eat low periodically just not recommended all the time.

Lastly fluids are a key atleast 8x250mls preferably 10 amounts of fluids a day, preferably not sugar drinks, water, tea, or in the form of the protein shakes are the best bet. and if you plateau mix it up eat more or less for a few weeks then go back to your usual.

Dont take any of that as gospel it's just what has worked for me.

I'm ashamed to say but I absolutely hate salad, the only salad vegetables I will eat are cucumber and onion lol, I agree though most low calorie recipes aren't good, have you ever heard of the hairy bikers? They did a show called the hairy dieters most of the recipes I have tried of theirs are lovely, especially the chicken korma recipe, do you eat eggs at all? Good source of protein and around 90ish cals each, do you cook? I got loads of soup recipes from food.com and a weight watchers soup book (soup is my go to thing I've got recipes from 86 cals to over 500) some of the higher soups I have tweeted to replace or leave out anything I don't want to be eating
I do sympathise though my husband and 4 kids regularly have what I consider junk, and I appreciate that he wants to (occasionally) cook for me, but he just wants to feed me like he did years ago not realising I don't actually want to eat that much anymore it's very hard work when your the only one in the house doing it x

I totally feel you about eating food you don't like. As I am lazy and don't cook much I tend to keep it simple. Grilled chicken or fish with lots of spices. Baked salmon with orange yogurt and green onions (yumm!) is so easy to make. You just put salmon in some tin foil, add orange yogurt (or other flavors) and some chopped green onions. Close the foil and bake and voila! I also eat mixed nuts, light cheese sticks, bananas, light and fit vanilla yogurt with blue berries on top. I eat grapes mixed with feta cheese as a treat, kashi go lean cookies (yes COOKIES!), smartfood white cheddar popcorn, california rolls. I recently made a penne primavera with unsweetened almond milk, lemon juice, garlic, and a tiny bit of butter and flower. Mixed in a bunch of steamed veggies and it was sooooo good. I even made stuffed mushrooms, just went light on the cream cheese, added a little bit of plain light yogurt, canned salmon, chopped green onions, garlic, and lemon juice. It was amazingly tasty and wasn't too bad on the calories.

You could totally add calories and still be eating healthy. Its definitely a challenge when you live with people who eat unhealthy. Depending on your family, maybe they would be willing to support you by changing their eating habits? I am a single mom who lives with family to save money. They used to cook really bad (but yummy) food. I spoke with them and they were willing to move more towards a healthy diet. Its somewhere in the middle, but I find it much easier now that there isn't loaded 5 cheese mac n cheese with meatloaf for dinner! They cook food I can eat, and there is a trend towards healthier food in the house. Yeah, there is still the odd bagel and cookie, but for the most part my life is way easier!

That's awesome! I've never had the patience to fish, but I love to eat a fresh catch! Its too bad your family isn't more open to the idea of a healthy diet. And between you and me, its ok to fall off the wagon every now and then as long as it doesn't turn into a binge. I give myself one cheat day per week. That way I have something to look forward to. It makes dieting a lot easier the rest of the week. Or, if I want to eat more I just work out so I can get some extra calories back!