Hello,

I've been a member of this forum for a couple years and am starting to get back into fitness again. When I was younger (about 5 years ago) I lost about 60lbs the wrong way, by not eating enough. You can imagine the results.

I am currently 5'11 and I weigh 150lbs. I am currently doing cardio 3-4 times a week for 20-25 mins each and doing weight training 3 times a week. I really just started so I am still figuring out where I am and what my actually plan is going to be.

My real question is this: I don't want to lose weight because I think that would be unhealthy. While I have some excess fat and suspect my body fat % is high, what I am looking to do is tone and strengthen my body. I want to add muscle mass and if that means gaining weight, I am all for it. But what is the best way for me to tone and get rid of the excess fat while adding muscle mass? I guess I feel I am in between cutting and bulking and would like some opinions about the best way to achieve what I am looking for. Thank you in advance for your time.

You are my height and twenty pounds lighter. You are ten pounds lighter than I've ever been at this height, even when I was as thin as I thought I could healthily be! Cutting just doesn't seem like a good idea at all.

If you've been out of the game for a bit, you'll probably have little difficulty losing some body fat while putting on and toning muscle. I would eat around a maintenance calorie level and lift hard. Give it several weeks and see where your body is going. At 5'11" and 150lbs, you might be able to lose fat, but what's under there? Bones? I'd focus on putting something in between those bones and the fat before worrying too much about the fat itself.

Eat clean, workout hard, and I think you'll find this body fat question doesn't really matter to you as much as you think it does. It will pretty well answer itself.

There are several ways to achieve your goals. I don't know about you, but counting calories was tiresome for me, but I still wanted to lose fat and build muscle. So I'm trying something different ~ eat as much as I want so long as it's healthy.

Healthy, by my definition, means no refined sugars (and a minimum of natural sugars outside of fruit), no processing (so not even the most natural "food bar"), and a minimum of simple carbs and high GI foods.

That leaves me to eat as much as I want of vegetables and meat, my fill of fruits and nuts, and a bit of dairy, and high fiber carb sources. I also drink quite a bit of water. I'm not starving, I'm building muscle, and getting leaner.

It's not easy, but that's probably why it works ;)

As far as I'm aware cutting and bulking are two mutually exclusive goals with the only exception being to those who are beginning

I think you should simply concentrate on getting your eating habits right and attending the gym on a consistant basis for the moment

Once your happy you've satisifed both requirements then you can begin looking at more goal orientated fitness plans

At 150lbs, 5'11", I seriously doubt that your bodyfat is all that high. Even if you have relatively little muscle, you probably aren't above 18%, and that's on the definite high end. I'd realistically expect you to be lower.

I think you should concentrate on two things:
1. Diet. This is the most important thing. You need to eat enough to support your efforts.
2. Consistency. If you can maintain the habit of exercising, you can modify your workouts as you define/refine your goals. Actually exercising is critical to any fitness goal.

Don't push yourself so hard you burn out. This is especially easy at first. Patience is a big part of the game. You'll put on muscle (and shed any extra fat) in time, so long as you stick with it. Lift heavy and eat well.

I appreciate everyone's replies; this is really the best fitness web site around. Everybody (for the most part) is knowledgeable and willing to help. Thanks!