>I do admit I did have quiet a few carbs after the water fast but I was always on a 100-200 calorie deficit?
There you go. Carbs turn to sugar in the body, sugar raises insulin, insulin is the fat storage hormone. Calorie deficits do little more than train your body to use less calories, by lowering your metabolism.
The solution? Ditch the carbs, eat more fat (ie. meat), and eat until full rather than counting calories. I am not saying that calories don’t matter; they do. But they don’t matter to you in the same way that you think. Let your hormones dictate calories, you can have some control in your hormones.