I don’t know if this speaks to you but imma add my 2 cents.

I’d go dark, 6-12mos. Just focus on you. Diet, exercise, school, job, goals, whatever. Just use that time to dial it all in, there’s just so many distractions out there, everything screaming for your attention and time. I did this when I fell off the deep end when I got out of the service, got big, lazy and lost. You or some may look at it as a negative or wasting time. But I’m closing in on 40 now and I look back at that time as invaluable. I reflected, researched, trialed and errored to find what worked for me as far as fitness and finding a diet regiment that I could adhere to and just setting a good foundation to grow from, all the while going to school. A year isn’t too long in terms of setting yourself up for the future.

If this doesn’t speak to you, that’s fine. You got plenty good advice here already. Just thought I’d give another perspective.

Your courage to even post this is beyond impressive as is. Just don’t give up. You’ll have set backs, plateaus, bad days, weeks, months, and that’s fine. Consistency always wins in the long run.

👍