“Switch to the bridge” is an excellent good generic response, but here is why.
The bridge generally assumes that a (struggling) post novice trainee has had insufficient volume at an inappropriately high intensity. To rectify this, autoregulation of intensity is introduced, and the volume dose the trainee is exposed to ramps up over time. Additionally, the program requires “GPP” with cardio to aid in increasing the trainee’s overall work capacity. All these changes would probably be exactly the type of training adjustments appropriate to address your issues.
Additionally, Jordan has frequently cited studies that strongly correlate >=40" waist sizes in male Caucasians to less desirable health outcomes, and in nearly every case, he recommends that weight loss take precedence over strength gains for these individuals. In your case, this action might pay additional dividends in increasing your work capacity and thus helping with the issues you describe.
Losing weight does not mean that you can’t still develop new strength gains if your programming is intelligently implemented, and The Bridge qualifies as such in this situation. If you like your results once The Bridge is completed, and wish to continue with BBM style programming that is appropriate for weight loss, you could re-run The Bridge, or switch to the BBM Hypertrophy template.
I’ll close by quoting a portion of the FAQ I built in Jordan’s nutrition section that applies to some of the above advice:
Edit: You expressed concern about the ability to “take as well to training as the average person.” Something Jordan refers to as “training sensitivity” similar to “protein sensitivity.” I think Jordan has discussed lower body fat % (waist size + BMI is a proxy for this) correlating to higher training sensitivity, or at least protein sensitivity. I know I’ve heard other’s discuss it who weren’t MD powerlifter trainers.