Is "Gaintaining" even a thing?

For some time I tried to sort of “gaintain”
I ate about 3000 cal/day and I built good muscle and strength and lost some weight but… I am not able to lose my love handles. I do have visible 6 pack althou it is more like a 4 Pack because of said love handles (177cm @ 95kg).
And I want to lose them, but in my head I have a big problem to eat less because I fear to make less progress muscle and strength wise.

Now you have to tell me if I just have to swallow that pill and lose some muscle to be able to get rid off the excess stomach fat :smile:

Yes, strength and muscle size can be improved while eating at maintenance. Things get a bit more tricky when talking about maximum strength and muscle gain, but that’s for another time.

I don’t think you’re likely to lose much muscle when losing fat, if any. I also would not expect your strength to decrease or plateau necessarily. Programming will be extremely important.

Ok then I might have to just do it.

I am only running your programms (BB II at the time and PB I, II and II previous) and I plan on going back to PB III once I have finished BB II

Yea, I’m a bit fan of PB III after that last meet. Sounds like programming is likely well-sorted at baseline, though some changes to fit you the individual may be necessary over time based on your response!