Goal is to lose body fat and gain muscle

OP: I'm 67, 5'8" and 156# at 10% BF (based on hydro) and am more "shredded" than anyone I've seen of any age at my gym.

Two different strategies to consider given your current weight and height which are almost identical to mine.

1) Lose weight (including BF) until you reach your goal weight and then recomp to lose more fat and retain (and maybe gain some LBM) to further reduce BF to get the "shredded" look you want at the desired weight.

OR

2) Maintain your weight at 155 and go straight into recomp to lose BF and retain (and maybe increase) LBM to reduce your BF% and get the "shredded" look you want at your current BW.

I used Option 1 but I started at 192# and dropped 42# before I transitioned to recomp.

I'm at 156 now and really like the way I look and at 5'7" and 155 you are almost exactly my size now but your body needs to be transformed to look like min eand the way to do that is with Option 2.

Option 2 may take longer to achieve noticeable results but IMO it will be easier to lose the fat and retain your existing LBM via recomp than it would be to lose weight/fat and LBM in a cut and then regain LBM w/o regaining too much fat in a bulk because it would probably require multiple cut/bulk cycles ro reach your goal, which will probably take as much tine or longer than just doing a straight recomp.

Anyway, here's what to do based on the options presented:

For Option 1, eat at a deficit of 500 cal/day for each pound of weight that you want to lose per week until you reach your goal weight. In other words, if you want to lose 1#/wk, eat 500 cals less a day. The only caveat is that you should not eat less than yoyr BMR or at any level that is nutritionally unhealthy. Generally, trying to lose for than 2#/wk is not recommended.

When you reach your goal weight, increase your calorie intake to whatever level will allow you to maintain that weight. This will require so trial and error to determine because you will weigh less than when you started to lose weight.

In order to find your maintenance level in Option 1 gradually increase your caloric intake by 100-200 cals/day and, after a week or 2, assess what affect this has had on your weight and adjust accordingly.

To determine your maintenance level in Option 2, if your weight has been constant for some time, you may need to do nothing at all. Just continue eating the same cals as v4 but if your current weight is not constant just adjust your caloric intake as necessary to achieve that.

Now that we've established the basis for weight control, we need to talk about what to eat and how to exercise.

1) There is a lot of disagreement about this posted on MFP but I achieved my weight and BF goals by eating an average of 1g of protein/day for the past 19 months throughout my weightloss and maintenance effort and this is what I recommend you do.

Eating more protein will help to retain (and maybe build more) LBM, it will make you feel fulker and less hungry and will reduce the % of carbs/fat that you eat instead.

I am NOT saying eat only or mainly protein. If you eat about 1g protein/# BW that woukd be 155g or 620 cals/day.

Based on your 1700 cal maintenance level, that's about 36% which is almost precisely the ave % protein that I have been eating for the past 19 months.

My macros have actually been about 36% protein, 38% carbs and 26% fat which I think is a balanced and healthy diet and would be a reasonable dietary goal whether you are cutting or maintaining.

2) On top of this you need to exercise in order to increase strength and retain (and maybe increase) LBM.

The basic reconmendation is to engage in a progressive lifting program to do so and I second this recommendation.

During my weight loss phase, I did Stronglifts and Starting Strength which only involve doing 4 basic compound lifts (plus a couple of accessory lifts) just 3x/week in sets of 5x5 or 3x5.

The 4 basic lifts are DL, SQT, BP and OHP and the accessory lifts are Rows (SL) and Power Cleans (SS). In addtion to these, the only other exercises that I did (and continue to do) are pushups, pullups and dips. No isolation work (like bicep curls, flys or situos) are required whatsoever to build strength and to get "shredded."

Doing these lifts and exercises will build your strength and the muscular definition achieved by doing them - - including a visible 6 pack - - that will ONLY be revealed after you have lost enough BF via weight loss and diet control to do so..

Cardio is NOT necessary to lose weight/BF or gain strength. That's NOT to say that cardio is not beneficial for your cardio/aerobic health or fitness. I have done cardio too but I did very little cardio during my weight loss phase, much more during maintenance.

In fact, I currently am burning a min of about 550 cals/day rowing and hr/day while in maintenance.

The advantage of doing this, apart from the general heart/aerobic and fitness benefits, is that it allows me to eat more food (including more protein) w/o gaining weight or feeling hungry or deprived because I'm on such an apparently restrictive maintance "diet."

My current maintenance level is only 1650 cals (not much different than yours) but, because I am burning 550 cals/day rowing, I can eat a more "normnal" diet of 2200 cal/day and I am much happier doing so.

However, this probably would not be as good idea to do while cutting, when you just need to focus on eating less to lose weight/fat.

Finally, in order to properly track my progress, I weighed myself daily, logged EVERYTHING that I ate daily on MFP and used MFP to plan or alter my food intake according and measured my BF quarterly by means of DXA scans and hydrostatic testing. If you are serious about losing weight/BF, I suggest that you do the same.

Anyway, that's my story and these are my suggestions based on it. Take it for what it's worth to you.

Good luck!

Where did you get 1700 as maintenance calories? I am a 53 year old woman, and at 137 lbs 5’5” lost weight eating around 1700 (131 lbs currently) Desk job and lift weights 3x per week and CrossFit 1 day a week. I think your maintenance should be higher. Building muscle and losing fat simultaneously is slow going unless you are new to lifting. Eat at maintenance or a tiny bit below while lifting heavy and you will get there.