High or low caloric intake?

[N4cer]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the site, and think it's great.

I've been working out steadily for about 3 months now. At least 3x/wk.

I'm 5'10", 192lbs., 25 yr. old male. I'm a drug and alcohol counselor, so I sit on my butt most of the day. And I'm a full-time college student. The good thing is most of the people at my work have a membership at the same gym that I do, so I regularly have a partner, although I'm just as happy to be a loner.

My diet is mostly chicken, barley, protein powder. I take a multivitamin, and use glutamine and creatine, as well as Betagen (HMB) because I got it for like $8 (my g/f works at GNC, and I got a deal, okay?).

I would like to drop fat from my body. I'm making gains in lifting, but I have too much of a belly. It amazes me what changes we go through in the mid-20's. I can't just eat whatever I want now. Genetics has cursed me in that the men on my maternal side of my family all have ****ty build. I mean bigger than desirable hips and asses:cry:. It sucks. So I do cardio about 2x/wk. in between or after lifting.

I need some help. Can I gain lean mass while losing fat? How? Or should I do one or the other, but not both at the same time? I'd hate to get bigger around the belly. Should I follow one of the routines on this site?:help:

[bradley]

Most people are unable to gaim LBM and lose bf at the same time. You might try eating around maintenance calories and see what kind of results you get. What does your diet look like now? There are many people on the board that can offer good diet advice. The WBB routines are solid routines which might give you better results especially if you have been performing the same routine for a while.

[Dan Dragon]

Actually i was able to reduce bodyfat and still progress in workouts with ckd (cyclical ketogenic diet) , check out the articles in the nutrition archive.

[bradley]

I do not doubt the fact that some people are able to lose fat/gain muscle at the same time, but those results are not typical. A more balanced diet would probably be easier to follow than a ketogenic one, especially for someone who is brand new to training. Not to mention that he will probably make excellent gains because of the fact that he is just beginning training.

[smalls]

Improving in the gym does not mean you are putting on muscle, I have set pr while cutting, and I certainly wasn't putting on muscle.

As already stated, check out the boards and articles, clean up your diet and take the info you learn to apply it to a cutting cycle.
As a beginner I wouldnt worry about a keto diet.