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Originally Posted by andysutherland
So can I (being new to the gym) expect to lose fat, but not much weight if I am dieting right now?
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It depends mostly on your eating habits, TBH. You'll need to eat slightly above your daily calorie requirements to build the muscle. But if you shift your food intake to healthier foods, you could well find yourself losing. I know I did. Of course, I also cut drinking almost completely, as well as all the junk-food crap I was eating. No take-out. No beer. Cook every meal - my foreman grill sees a lot of use. I also started eating healthier food throughout the day so I was no longer starving by the time I got home from work, prompting me to eat at the deli around the corner. I went from 275 to 235 in about 6 months. That includes gaining about 10lbs of muscle.
Diet is a horribly mis-used term. Your diet is what you eat every day. You can change your diet, but restricting your food intake is not necessarily going to get you where you want to be.
Your best bet, IMO, is to find out how many calories you should be eating, based on body weight/composition, age, sex and general activity level. Then adjust that, based on your goals. livestrong.com has a good food tracker, where you can set a daily calorie target and adjust it based on your workout for the day. They have lots of common foods in their database. It's worth the time it takes every day just to give yourself an understanding of what you are eating.