As a caveat, I don't believe in starvation mode - I think there are usually other reasons people don't lose weight when they restrict calories significantly (i.e. they naturally move less and burn far fewer calories per day, they choose more processed foods that are higher in sodium and wind up retaining a lot of water, etc.).

However, a man of your age and weight could probably eat 3000 calories a day and still lose weight. At about 220 your basal metabolism (what you'd burn just laying around all day) is probably in the 2000 calorie or higher range. Add to that your regular daily movement and your exercise and you could certainly be up beyond 3000. Which is not to say that's what you should eat - 2500 would certainly get you to your goal weight faster if that's what matters most to you.

The plateaus you mention could be caused by several things. I often find that I'll lose two pounds seemingly overnight and then stay the same for two weeks - this is simply a matter of your body moving water around at different rates, it doesn't mean you don't still have a caloric deficit. The bigger picture (by which I mean months and years, not days) is more important - and your big pictures is pretty great considering you've lost 50 pounds already!

You don't need to "jump-start" your metabolism - your metabolism is based on activity and body composition and not a whole heck of a lot else. However, included in "activity" is digesting food, which is obviously stimulated by eating, so that's one explanation for the "breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism" claim - however, the calories used to burn food are much less than contained in the food itself in 99.999% of cases, so this is kind of a silly way to "jump-start" the metabolism. The other thing is that people who don't eat regularly and fast for extended periods of time (like from dinner to lunch the next day) naturally move their bodies less, and therefore get less activity and use less energy (i.e. their metabolisms are lower). Getting less activity can be as simple as fidgeting less, parking the car closer to the office, getting up fewer times to use the bathroom or deliver things, etc., which accounts for a lot of calories burned in most people.

I do think breakfast is extremely important because it changes how much energy you have earlier in the day and makes you a more productive and alert person and keeps your blood sugar more stable so you don't wind up eating a bunch of junk later on out of starvation. Also, people often eat the healthiest things at breakfast - fruit, whole grains, and the like, so it'd be a shame to lose that opportunity.