lose weight first, or focus on muscle?

This site has interesting articles relating to this, but I'd like to know people's actual experiences too.

You can't gain muscle on a deficit, but if you eat at maintenance, it is an incredibly slow process to do body recomposition. Since you have a fair amount of weight to lose (30ish pounds), I could see that taking you 5-6 years to get the body you want. I would go with your original plan of losing .5 a pound a week, and definitely eat enough protein (1g ish per kg of body weight) and lift heavy. That will help you maintain the muscle you have while you're losing fat. Then, when you get down close to goal, you can think about cut/bulk cycles.

^This is mostly just personal preference, but motivation seems to be the biggest problem with sticking to a plan. If the changes are so slow that you can't see them, you may be more likely to give up. I think it's easier to stick with something when you can see changes.

Also, don't go only by the scale, measure and take pictures too. With starting a lifting program, the scale may not tell you what you want, but that doesn't mean that changes aren't happening.

I'm in a similar situation. I've been working out like CRAZY! I've been trying to stay below my Calories and I STILL can't lose the weight! What's going on here? I am bottom heavy so I need to lose like 20 lbs to be at a healthy weight for my height !

Any suggestions for me too?

I started at 285 at a point of no excercise or lifting or anything. I told myself to just focus on lifting for a year to get into a routine and the right mindset without piling too much on at once.

I did that and after a year i started to focus on diet and excercise a bit more. My first year i only lost 20 scale pounds (but had gained alot of muscle mass, so seemingly i lost a bit more fat than the 20 reflected on the scale).

I thought this approach worked well for me, i'm at 194 now and i do alot of cardio and really watch my diet now and it was a pretty easy progression into once i made lifting a daily routine.

You should be eating in a caloric deficit and attempting to lose weight. Set your macronutrients appropriately and do some resistance training.

nm212,

I had a friend in a similar situation. It turned out she was skipping breakfast. I encouraged her to start eating breakfast and she started losing lbs again. If you're skipping meals, don't... if you're not skipping meals, try eating more often throughout the day (without increasing your daily calorie intake).

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the feedback. I will try to eat more protein and less carbs....and maybe smaller meals more often throughout the day.

You will gain muscle as you make your muscles work more. This is not an 'either/or' question. You will lose weight as your energy balance is negative (meaning, you burn more than you consume). If you burn more energy by being physically active, your muscles will be working more, and you will grow lean muscle mass at the same time that you use up your fat stores. I suggest that you concentrate on eating right (a balanced diet, with plenty of vegetables, protein and good carbs) and be physically active, increasing your physical activity gradually.

By the way, a body fat % of 15% is a hard (but GREAT) goal for a woman. That's the body fat % of a woman who is very fit and athletic. At 5'3 and 117 lbs (I run 5 times per week and lift 4 days a week), my body fat % is about 18. Most commercially available scales don't provide accurate readings. Just my two cents.

I started with both eating better and cardio exercise, and have consistently lost 1 lb/week for 6 months, that's 26 lbs so far. My starting weight was close to yours, but i am a little older (43, if that makes a difference). I have been mostly brisk walking with weights 4-5 days a week and it's working for me. I recently joined a challenge of push-ups and planking that I'm enjoying and will eventually add more of these type (wall sits, lunges, sit ups, squats, etc.) of exercises to my routine as I get stronger. I am content to lose weight and gain strength slow and steady, others want results more quickly...I'm in this for the long haul, so for me the changes have to be gradual if it's gonna be permanent.

I started Chalean Extreme and I love it! It focuses on gaining muscle to burn fat! I think it would be the answer to your problem. its a total transformation program.