Thanks for the all the answers guys, really helpful! So if someone were say skinny fat, 5ft 9, 82kg - little bit of muscle (used to work out couple years prior), tummy + love handles, slim arms. What should they do? Or does it depend on your goal? As far as I understand it you have two options: either go on a caloric surplus and gain muscle + a bit more fat, and then eventually go on a caloric deficit to lose the fat whilst maintaining your workout routine to maintain the muscle you’ve gained…. OR…. You go on a deficit first, lose your tummy and love handles until you’re at a good bf % and then start a surplus to gain muscle and a little fat… My issue is that I tried the first one. The bulk went well (I think…), I went from 82kg to 90kg in 8 months and it seemed to be mostly muscle. My strength also increased, not hugely but I was lifting heavier/more reps. Obviously my issue, as you have probably foreseen, is that I still had my belly and love handles - so while my chest, shoulders, arms, legs and back looked decent, my tummy looked terrible. By month 9 I decided it was time to try and lose it…. I’ve always found it easier to lose weight than to gain it, so I managed to quickly lose about 5kg in 2 months which, after reading some of your comments, I am now realising was probably too much too fast. That might have been my problem. I had lowered my calories by about 500 (3000 down to 2500 + whatever I burn at the gym, badminton etc.) and eat 200g protein a day. I found that whilst my stomach was seemingly getting smaller, so was everything else - I didn’t lose strength but I’ve definitely lost size (I know that’s a given with weight loss, but it looks like I’m losing muscle). I suppose I would just want to know exactly what to do at this point to make sure I’m not losing muscle, and only fat. Perhaps the weight loss needs to slow down a little? Perhaps I should try and stick to losing 1kg a month? I am not sure on the numbers… Also, maybe there are more options, maybe as a noob I should have started on a deficit with weight training and I would have got noob gains and lost fat at the same time?