Losing body fat not weight

What you are talking about is "re-comp"...I'm kind of old and we just used to call it getting in shape back in the day. Basically eating right around maintenance with a good resistance training program (cardiovascular work is also helpful) and a fair amount of patience and time. And by that I mean, months and years, not days and weeks...it is a very slow process and really just a bi-product of regular and consistent time spent in the weight room and doing some cardio whereby you build muscle and lose fat slowly over time.

I did this when I went to maintenance in 2013 as I just continued on with my healthy eating habits and regular exercise and weight training. I was 180 when I went to maintenance...when I look at pictures of myself from 2013 and say...2017, my physique is quite markedly different, but still 180ish lbs. Basically leaner and more defined with more muscle mass including a more definitive jaw line and facial features. After that point, nothing much more happened with re-comp but I was pretty happy with what had taken place over those 4-5 years or so.

boilerdawg2009 wrote: »

To maintain weight you'll have to replace the fat with muscle.

You can't replace fat with muscle as it's a completely different type of tissue. But yes, lose weight, build muscles.

As others have stated - it's called re comp - you are losing fat while gaining muscle - eat near maintenance - get plenty of protein - follow a sensible lifting program . Don't worry so much about your scale weight - you may loose fat but not loose much weight if you are lifting and gaining muscle