I'm ecstatic to see you post more in detail and there is no question you are making great progress. I'll defer to Bigdaddy because he has far greater knowledge from years of experience in the field. I do my Cardio first
. My point is the amount of calories you intake is directly proportional to maintaining as well as loosing weight. I'm certain we can agree on this point without going to the body of evidence? Herein lies the question is creating a calorie deficit the only way to loose weight on a consistent basic? The caveat here is you must not only burn the calories you take in, additionally you must burn the excess fat agreed?
After burning off the excess weight your calorie intake, exercise and Cardio must be balanced to maintain the weight loose and allow you live a quality life. The life style you choose will dictate the amount of calories you need to intake. I take the long term view and if I'm correct the Cardio component is more important than how much weight you use. I use weights as a means to tone, improve elasticity, muscle memory and retention but I concentrate on my core. The jury is still out on me at 5' 9" roughly 190lbs my anniversary is April 24. I've loose the weight but September 27 will mark one year of keeping the weight off. Is that enough time to tell if I'm right, I don't know? We'll see how this all shakes out but no matter what you are on the road to success all props to you guy
Jimmy