Starting back diet.

[lilbg]

Trying to start back again for the 20th time.  I seem to fail each time getting back to my old shape of not so round.  So I always get lost in how I should start my diet.  I am 170lbs and still have some muscle left from when I was 145lbs @ 7% b/f.  I am short 5'4" so bulking has always been easy.  So im probably 18% bodyfat or worse right now.  Do I start lifting and begin with a cutting diet or do I just start eating cleaner but keep my calories high to promote muscle growth.  Ive got a gut I need to drop but I hate to shed that down and have less muscle underneath then i thought.  Thx for any advice.  This is the part that screws me so I want to get this figured out.

[pac-man]

Well before we get to the nutrition part, I would first address why you are doing this for the 20th time.  If you have been down to 7% body fat it sounds like you know how to burn fat. 

Something must go haywire psychologically and I’m not sure I have enough information and is probably beyond the scope of answering on a message board.  Or maybe I’m reading into it too much and you just added to much fat when you were looking to add muscle. 

You probably know that you have to keep your protein intake up, consume moderate amounts of good fats, and adjust/lower your carbs to start getting your body fat down.  Once you get your body fat down you can then start adding some extra carbs into your diet to start adding muscle. 

This is the short answer.  Keep in mind you can’t and won’t “diet” forever so you need to learn how to add some extra calories to your nutritional intake without losing will power and binging when the diet is over.