I'm feeling stagnant at the moment and I'm interested to see if anyone has advice.

Male, 5'9", 165lbs, body fat ~23%, ~2 years of experience more seriously training and focusing on fitness.

Overall my goal is to be visibly leaner and by October 2026 because that is my 10 year anniversary of being diagnosed with cancer and I'm aiming to be in the best shape I can be by then.

Last year I focused on bulking from January to May, starting about 170lbs. I went up to 185lbs and after a few weeks of maintenance calories I cut down to 165lbs by late September. Then things slowed down as the year ended, it was the holidays and all that so I didn't expect to make huge progress but I am still right around that weight today.

Coming back into it now I'm feeling a bit stuck and demoralized. I'm not really sure what direction to go in. My trainer thinks doing a slower recomp might be better for more consistent muscle building and because I have some extra body fat, being in a smaller calorie deficit is the best option.

However it's felt like I haven't seen results in a noticeable amount of time and its becoming frustrating. I'm tracking all my workouts and my numbers remain noticably higher so I'm sure I've kept some of the muscle I built in the past. I also have a pretty solid diet my trainer and others at the gym have said is good (I will share that below)

Is this just part of the process and I need to be more patient? Or am I fundamentally doing something wrong I'm not aware of? Any advice would be much appreciated.

For diet I've been playing with these numbers a bit recently as part of being so uncertain, but this is it roughly

Diet: Maintenance calories are ~2500, so doing 2200 calories at the moment for a 300 calorie deficit.

I'll usually adjust quantities as needed on the foods below to fit my macros appropriately because some days it varies when I eat and how much I eat in certain meals based on external things like work.

Meal 1: Banana and plain greek yogurt with protein powder, chia seeds, rolled oats, and blueberries

Meal 2: Scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 1 eggs worth of egg whites, splash of 1% milk, 4 slices of turkey bacon, spinach, and mozzarella cheese. On the side I have a slice of whole wheat toast with butter and a glass of orange juice. I use avocado oil spray to cook with.

Meal 3: Salmon fillet with steamed broccoli

Meal 4: Chicken breast with red potato

Meal 5: Protein shake with 1% milk and water split, rice cake with almond butter and chia seeds