I want to build muscle!

Also, check out The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuller. It's AWESOME!! The subtitle is "Lift like a Man, Look like a Goddess!"

It is also difficult to gain muscle mass while dieting. While I am no expert in this area, I have read a lot and shall ATTEMPT to explain the information I have found to be somewhat good...

In weight loss, we encourage a calorie deficit, which puts us in a catabolic state most of the day. This state breaks down things, such as fat for energy. Muscle can also be broken down in this state. It is a good idea to do moderate weight lifting during this time to encourage the body to not break down much muscle.

In muscle mass building, we want to be in an anobolic state. This state builds things up such as muscle and fat. To be in this state for most of the day, you will need to have a calorie surplus.

Now, your body is never in either state 100%. But in the catabolic state, your body will burn a bit of muscle while it burns fat, which is why you weight train so that you gain back the muscle at the same rate it is burnt. It would be VERY difficult to gain muscle mass while in this state due to the fact most of the day you are burning!

If you have not been weight training while losing fat, you will see some results. Namely the body will recognize the muscle is used more and will begin to not use it as much for energy, will also supply it with more water and blood, and your brain will establish better connections with the muscle so your strength will increase. This will all result in you being stronger and the muscle you do have appearing slightly large, but no new mass is created.

The suggested route of losing fat and gaining muscle mass is to do moderate weights while losing fat. Once you are under about 12% body fat as a woman, switch to eating MORE calories per day than you need and begin increasing the weights you use to start building mass in the anobolic state. Once body fat % gets to a place where you dislike, switch back to weight loss mode.

This is the reasoning behind the bulking and cutting ideology held by many body builders. It has NOTHING to do with needing more energy to fuel muscle building. It is all about body states. So no, you can't use the love handles to fuel muscle mass gain.

Anyway, hope this makes sense and I hope it is truly fully correct. There is so much information out there by so many, that this is the best I can reasonably come to as a conclusion on weight loss and muscle gain. If anyone has better information, hopefully they share.

You always try to increase the weights you lift whatever caloric state you are in, but realize that outisde of the first few months you will make little progress when in a deficit. When that time comes if you still need to be in a deficit, lift as heavy as you can until you switch to surplus and then start increasing again.

Basically train the same whether trying to gain muscle or lose fat.

The thread in my first post will give you all the straight dope

The three biggies:
Calorie surplus + High protein intake + heavy compound lifting.

How you fill in the smaller details is really up to you.