Skinny fat- lost as to what to do. 1+ year training the. 3 month break

I'm 28, male, 5'10, 75.8kg. I'm pretty skinny fat as you can see in the images in this link: https://imgur.com/a/EHWDInD . These images were taken today

I got a DEXA scan at the start of February 26' and it came back saying my bf% was 25%.

I started weight training in October 2024, I went ahead and bought one of those online coaching programmes to start out but didn't feel like it was worth it but what it did help was help me learn counting my calories/ macros and getting into a routine. Anyway, I started out at 82kg in Oct 24' and dropped to 70kg by Apr 25' eating in a 400-500kcal deficit. I had really slimmed down my waist and stomach along with other areas but I still looked skinny fat due to barely having any muscle underneath. It was at this point I stopped the online coaching because it was just getting too expensive. I was doing an ULUL 4 days a week during the programme.

Following on from this, I started a "bulk"diet as I didn't like how skinny I was getting and wanted some muscle.. I started eating at 3000kcal a day while tracking my macros everyday. I was eating around 180g protein, 70-80g fat and the rest carbs. My eating definitely could have been cleaner as I was treating food as just a number. Although I was for sure making some progress as my lifts were increasing, I wasn't happy with how I was starting to look again.

During this time I went to PPLPPL when I was eating at 3000kcal. Looking back I didn't make as much progress as I did doing the ULUL, probably because of not enough recovery. I did this to November 25' and ended at 79kg which I feel was a lot of weight from Apr-Nov. From here, I had some family issues and stopped going to the gym for about 3 months (started back Feb 26'). During that 3 month hiatus, I ate like shit (processed fatty food, didn't track macros, drunk alcohol A LOT) and I feel I just wasted everything I had done in the last year and look close to what I did when I started in Oct 24'.

Now, February 2026, I've got myself back into the gym doing a 4 day upper lower split. I'm eating at maintenance (about 2500kcal) but I'm eating nearly all clean now, with the exception of some wholemeal bread here and there + some sauces. It's been nearly a month of being back and I haven't gained or lost weight so I'm definitely eating at maintenance.

Now, my issue is, I actually have no idea where to go from here. My goal is to just look decent or good with a shirt off and feel good about myself when I look in the mirror because as of right now it really brings me down especially with the effort I've put in prior to that 3 month break. I've looked at so many posts online but I haven't actually come to an answer, which is why I'm posting here to hopefully find some direction. My first thought was to go into a small deficit (200-300kcal) and focus on eating clean and going gym but I really don't know what the right dietary path would be and I would appreciate someone who knows a lot more about this than I do to hopefully have some input. Thanks in advance.