Loosing strength at the gym

elfin168

Hi all. Have been going to the gym now for approx 6 months and lifting heavy for 12 reps 3 sets. Have not been monitoring my calories over this time nor attempting to lose weight. My weight has remained about the same but everything appears to have firmed up and certainly I have grown stronger. Any how I have recently decided to try and lose a bit of extra body fat and then do some work on building up some muscle slowly. I reduced my calories to about 1600. I almost immediately found I felt less strong at the gym and was struggling to get my workout done. Now heres the problem. I read that the best way to lose body fat and keep muscle is to eat plenty of protein (doing this) and keep up the same lifting routine. But I cant seem to keep up the lifting. What should I do? Is it normal to lose strength?