This year I cut from 200 lbs down to 190 lbs. It took me roughly 10 weeks. That's a good thing because I looked better! I wanted to lose more, but it seemed that when I tried to do so I only got weaker, or at least there was a temporary loss of strength. I also seemed to become way more susceptible to injury. For example, I tried doing weighted chins today with 10 lbs strapped to my waist and I hurt my neck.

So you can obviously see what my problem is. I happen to be relatively lean right now, but I want to improve. My belly is flat at 190 lbs, but I think I would be ripped at 175 lbs. So my next goal will be 180 lbs and eventually 175.

But by the way things are looking, I don't think its a good idea for me to rush to 180. It seems cutting too much in such a short period of time would lead to muscle loss and I might not look good once I get there.

I'm thinking a better bet would be to stay at 190 lbs for a while and then cut down to 180 only after I have gained my strength back. And that could take several months! I'm thinking if I do it right, I'm probably looking at an improved physique at 180 lbs by the end of summer 2012.

One year seems so far away to wait. But for my abs to finally show without a doubt? It will be worth it. I've been wanting abs like that all my life!

Does anyone have any further advice or ideas on this one? My goal is to maintain strength all the way down until I am lean. Is this even possible? I have known folks who are both lean and strong. I don't think that is hard to do for one who is already lean. But while cutting it makes it a lot harder because you have to drop calories. The already lean person doesn't have to. Heck, in my case maybe I just have to have patience.

Have to be tight then with your foods good types of food and weigh it all and then it may be arranging the macros to work with your body and most of the strength will be maintained and try to walk that line of coming as close as you can to losing fat but maintaining muscle.

Get your protein carbs and fats to the tee and then you can adjust accordingly.
Have to figure out a starting point then weigh each week to see how you are doing? we want the muscle to be retained and fat dropped off of your weight.

where have you been hitting your macros? Maximize carbs but still lose fat as this will be a big retain strength

Have to be tight then with your foods good types of food and weigh it all and then it may be arranging the macros to work with your body and most of the strength will be maintained and try to walk that line of coming as close as you can to losing fat but maintaining muscle.

Get your protein carbs and fats to the tee and then you can adjust accordingly.
Have to figure out a starting point then weigh each week to see how you are doing? we want the muscle to be retained and fat dropped off of your weight.

where have you been hitting your macros? Maximize carbs but still lose fat as this will be a big retain strength

not sure but about 200-250 protein, bout 250 carbs and then try and hit about 50 fat

Cytrainer913,
Thanks a lot!

What you are saying definitely makes a lot of sense. I think where I have been going wrong is that on some days I don't eat enough carbs. That's obviously a big mistake on my part. And now that I think of it, with the eating style I'm using insulin control shouldn't be an issue.

Other than that, I can see where trying to move too fast might have brought me some problems as well. The modifications to my style have been new to me so it has been an experiment. I now know that I have a method that works without a doubt. And I was very happy to get that 10 lbs off. But now I just have to know better not to reduce carbs anymore and to take a slower approach.

I'm thinking now instead of trying to lose say 1 lb per week, which actually is a lot easier to keep track of and measure, I'm thinking I might be better off holding myself accountable to lose as little as 1 lb per month. I know that actually is incredibly slow. But I predict that if I do it that way I'll be 5% @ 175 lbs and strong by december 2012, and I'll be able to maintain it!

You have a good strategy. Just remember to periodically cycle your carbs (once every 3 to 4 days) and picks good slow burning carbs. Check out the link for suggestions: naturalbodybuildingcoach.com/slow-burning-carbs.html

Good luck!