[Silock]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Scenario/Question:

I just turned 35...started working on getting in shape a little a year ago. Since then, I'm down 25 pounds or so (guessing that I've added about 5 pounds of muscle and dropped 30 of fat). As of this morning, I'm about 3 pounds heavier than when I graduated high school.

I've still got a tiny bit of flab on my obliques that I'd like to get rid of, and I think that dropping those last few pounds to get back to my age 18 weight will pretty much take care of it.

My plan has been to focus on weight loss while mixing in some strength training to build muscle until I get to my target weight and then shifting to strength training (pushups, kettle balls, possibly some limited weight lifting, etc.). The thought process being that it's going to be easier to add muscle than to drop weight. (I know that adding muscle helps burn fat, but I've been focusing mostly on cardio).

I would rather be lean with less muscle (silock) than have huge muscles with some extra cushion through my core (lewdog)...just personal preference. Should I keep doing what I've been doing until I reach my target weight, or am I never going to lose the little love handles until I focus more on building muscle?

Given my current track, I figure that I should be able to lose the last few pounds by the end of summer. Winter weather is going to make it difficult for me to do cardio, so I'm kind of trying to get in as much as possible while the weather allows it and strength train in the winter.

Am I totally off base here? Am I going to have a harder time than I think adding muscle? Is it actually easier to drop excess weight than to add five more pounds of muscle?

I'm thinking that I would like to get to 155 pounds before working to add 5 pounds of muscle to get back to 160. I weighed 158.5 this morning (that number just sounds incredibly tiny...wow...it's amazing how little we actually weigh without all the excess fat that we just get accustomed to carrying around).

This thread seems to be dominated by the iron pumpers (I don't mean that as a pejorative at all), so I think I know what the answers will be, but I'm still interested in getting some different perspectives.

Keep doing what you're doing until it stops working, then re-evaluate.