Okay, I am looking for opinions for both sides of my dillema.

I will start off with a little back ground. I am 33, 6 feet tall, and weigh around 205 pounds at 15% bf. I have lifted weights and played sports for most of my life. I have been very sedentary for about two years. I had a bad asthma atack and havent done much since. Anyway I am trying to get over that. In the past I would weight train but I was an endurance athlete so I never gained much size or strength. I started back lifting 6 months ago, and without all the running and biking my strength has sky rocketed. I lost around 8 pounds over the past 6 months.

Here is my dillema. I want to get down to @8% bf, but I want to keep getting stronger. I realize I can't do both at the same time. Over the past month the weight loss I initialized got has stoped and I am gaining weight (you know it goes hand in hand w/ strength) I was wondering if that means now is the time to begin to cut, or should I continue training as I am now for a bit longer and then cut in November.

I have always wanted to bench 315 and squat 365 and I feel that it will take about three more months to get there. Health is more important than strength, but this has kinda been a goal of mine since the good old college days.

Sorry it was so long and vague but I am looking for good arguements each way to help me make an informed decision. Also how much will my strenth suffer if I were to lose those 15 pounds in about 4 months???? Just looking for some guesses there.

Thanks everyone!

I have always wanted to bench 315 and squat 365 and I feel that it will take about three more months to get there. Health is more important than strength, but this has kinda been a goal of mine since the good old college days.

Go for this. I would go for this goal and then start to cut down once your lifetime goals have been met. It seems like this has been a goal of yours for a long time. There won't be anything more satisfying than hitting these numbers. After that cut down.

Also how much will my strenth suffer if I were to lose those 15 pounds in about 4 months????

This is about a pound per week. You won't lose much strength at all if you still get enough protein and try not to rush things. Just cut back on the carbs a bit.

Agree with Flex.

The increase in muscle and strength will help your cut, and the fire of success will keep you going hard, full prepared to race toward that second goal.

And you can make a goal of maintaining those personal records during your cut or getting back to those numbers after the cut if you do lose a little strength.

Thanks for the inoput guys. I am probaly going to continue strength training until december. That will give me 4-5 months to cut down for summer. I don't have a lot of weight to lose 15-20 pounds at the most will put me somewhere between 7-9% bf.

certainly can't argue against the advice given. my sentiments exactly. losing 15 to 20 lbs over four to five months should yield little to no noticeable loss in strength or muscle, i wouldn't think. not much wrong with getting stronger and building muscle in my opinion. for me, that's what the next six months are for, getting to eat more food, lift more weight and build more muscle.