@cthelight7 Everyone gave you great advice especially about your diet. I'm a newbie of sorts too -- getting back into it again after a very long time (more like a couple of decades). I just want to say that I am not even anywhere near your level yet! I'm still making progress but with dumbbells and kettle balls not barbells.
I'm guessing I'm older than you and started more out of shape. I stopped strength training years ago due to repeated injuries. Being sedentary was good, I had no pain. I controlled my weight for years through diet-- but ya know skinny fat, and it's not healthy to subsist on 1000 calories for years.
But I'm back at it, because I can't live like this anymore. Yet I am being SUPER careful not to get injured again -- that is my primary goal at the moment for personal training.
You may or may not relate to this, but I am realizing that there is so much that has to get strengthened first before I can even begin to attempt the heavy stuff without injury: ligaments. Tendons. Smaller stabilizer muscles (including my ankles). And building back a strong core.
I started in April and looking back my gains may seem really insubstantial compared to most people here, but for me they are huge and life changing. Even if I can't deadlift more than a 20 lb kettle ball-- that's more than I could do a year ago.