Weight graphs, dieting alone vs dieting and exercise

tldr: Just look at the Weight Graphs section if you just want to see the difference in the data and don't care about my personal progress.

Overview

I began counting calories early last September when I was at my heaviest ever at 252lbs. I work a desk job and am not particularly active otherwise. Through CICO management I managed to drop ~25lbs up until Thanksgiving when I "took a break for the holidays." It ended up lasting longer than I intended and it was early February before I got back on the wagon, and had put 5 pounds back on. At the same time that I restarted managing my diet, I also began exercising and am now down to 206lbs (46lbs total). In addition to the weight loss, my resting heart rate has dropped from the 80s into the 50s, and I've gone from size 44 to size 38 pants.

Weight Graphs

I noticed an interesting trend where when I was dieting alone, I had much less variation in my daily weigh-ins. It's pretty logical when you consider that I'm building muscle while losing weight in the exercise phase, but just losing fat (and muscle) in the diet-only stages. But I find the data very interesting to look at, and thought I would share.

Diet-only (the plateau was a vacation):
https://i.imgur.com/VYYBawc.jpeg

Diet and exercise:
https://i.imgur.com/8DX8uiQ.jpeg

My diet

I don't focus too hard on macros, I do try to eat more protein and less carbs, because that seems to work for me, but I don't make any crazy efforts to avoid things. I'll order a thin crust pizza from Dominos and eat it 1/4 at a time for example. I focus more on my caloric deficit than anything else. I usually eat around 1500 calories per day. One of my staples is buying a bag of frozen salmon filets from Costco or Sam's club and alternating dinners of salmon or chicken cooked in a cast iron skillet with a heaping side of broccoli, corn, or carrots as stomach-fillers. It helps me keep a little variety in my meal and is fairly quick and easy. I've also been making sure to take a multivitamin with meals to help make sure I'm getting good nutrition. Since I started exercise I've been incorporating BCAAs, L-Carnitine, and Protein shakes into my diet, which is the only dietary difference (caloric intake has been pretty consistent throughout). I also keep a half gallon water bottle with me at all times and try to drink from it constantly.

My exercise

I started with a spin class and a HIIT class once a week on my first week. The first spin class was absolutely brutal, and gave me the worst DOMS of my life. I then added an additional HIIT class each week for a month and a half. Then I worked in an additional spin class each week. So I'm now doing 2 spin classes and 2 HIIT classes each week. My next step once I get a little closer to my goal weight is to add more weight lifting in on my spin days so that I'm not only lifting weights in my HIIT classes.

My takeaways so far

I feel dropping the extra pounds in the kitchen before I began exercising made it easier on my body to return to the workouts (although it was still hard!). In addition it allowed me to focus on just changing one habit first. It may not be the best or most efficient way, but it has worked for me so far.

I don't have complete progress pics because I didn't take any when I first started, but here's late October of last year through today for the curious:
https://i.imgur.com/1Yx3rbA.png

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