Fat loss vs. Muscle gain (either/or or both?)

Decide what you want to do and don't get too caught up on if you are building muscle and losing fat.

Fat loss
Eat less than maintenance
weight train to keep muscle mass
high protein
less carbs

Weight gain
Eat more than maintenance
weight train to build muscle
high protein
more carbs

You are a beginner so you will probably build muscle but using the 7lb db probably isn't going to help you after a few weeks. You need to make things harder and work in the 8-12rep range. If you can do 7lbs for 20reps and 3sets it's way too light for you and will provide minimal benefits and will definitely not give you further gains.

You need to be able to increase the weights you use over time. E.g. every 2-3 weeks you up the weights or do more reps. If the weight or reps don't change over time you will not get *continued* progress.

Koing

I am losing fat and gaining muscle. Am I shortchanging myself on either end by doing both at once? Are there details that I need to attend while pursuing both goals simultaneously?

You can either lose fat AND muscle or gain fat AND muscle. You can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Also, in order to gain muscle you need to be on a calories surplus while working out. That means lots of work and heavy lifting etc.

I am not body-building level, my strength training is very beginner, using 7 lb. dumbbells a few times a day, swimming and elliptical for resistance, resistance bands, added weights during cardio, etc. I do hope to get really firm and hopefully fill out some skin with muscle. I was historically pretty active and always had good musculature beneath the curves (fat! :drinker:) but I'm focusing on both strength and cardio with the goal of giving each fairly equal emphasis.

Is that a mistake?

Being active, strength training is never a mistake. Keep on doing your thing. I would lookup either HIIT or heavy lifting and get a regular program.

Good luck with your adventures

You can do both at the same time - it's called a recomp and is normally done at maintenance. It's a slow process though.

However, the main thing to remember is that weight training is important whether you are losing weight, maintaining or gaining.

As you still have some way to go to your weight goal the biggest benefit will be the retention of your existing muscle mass. As a newbie to weights you will definitely see good improvements in strength even if you just keep the muscle size you have now.

Plenty of protein and a progressive weight training routine are your friends!

Lifting while in a deficit will help retain the muscle you already have, not build new, which is much better than losing muscle as you lose fat then trying to regain it later. By lifting as you lose weight you will have a lower BF% at every stage during your weight loss than if you didn't do strength training, which means you will be happier with your results, and may end up having a higher goal weight than you originally thought.

idk but from personal experience, i would say that i have been able to do both during my first year of lifting. during the first 6 months, i was losing fat but getting stronger and of course building muscle (with proper protein intake). I know this because i refuse to believe that i was able to make all those newby strength gains without building a single pound of muscle but the weight was going down so i have to believe that i was burning fat and building muscle. i know that strength is a function of the CNS but the CNS isn't solely the cause for strength ie. your not going to bench 315 with a small chest no matter how efficient your CNS is.

and during my cut during the summer where it took me 2~3 months to lose 5-7 lbs (so it was a mild deficit), i gained strength (adding anywhere from 10~20lb to some compound lifts with the same parameters i always use) while losing fat and i noticed my muscles were getting larger. I know my muscles were larger because i was at the same weight before during march but my muscles were larger then than they were during march and i became much stronger too.

but that sjust me and the information ive gathered from personal experience. Even if you may think it is broscience, i fully believe it is possible to build muscle and burn fat during your first 1-1.5 years of weight training if your nutrition is on point but the thing is, most people dont make the change in nutrition during their first years of weight training so they never fully see this.

something else to keep in mind is that everyone is different