gbrice75,, Has said the some of the most important facts in this post! Its not just about calorie deficit to lose body fat. It is true however, that a calorie deficit will absolutely positively drop body weight! The real questions are do you want to cut body fat % or just drop weight? If you want to decrease body fat % and your looking at calorie deficits, then you should look at your diet and eat the absolute best sources of protein, carbs and fats. You have a calorie limit! and if your not feeding the muscle and starving the fat, your going nowhere to drop body FAT %. So make every calorie bean important one, right?

Now dropping body weight is something virtually completely different. You can eat a calorie deficit of budweiser and twinkies and still lose weight. But what would the quality of your body be when your down to your desired weight? RIGHT!! I have read tons of places here that say garbage in garbage out, well I say garbage in garbage on! There is a reason its called "essential"!! your body needs it. There is hardly anything your body can use from empty calories. Now, the reason you want to gain or maintain muscle while cutting is quite simple, it takes much more calories to maintain muscle than it does fat in the body. So while your protecting the muscle and starving the fat your turning your body into a metabolizing machine!

Without beating this to death, I think the advice from gbrice75,, is decent,

BTW, I warm my tuna in the micro for a few seconds to make it go down smoother and add green onions, chopped celery, and fresh mango salsa with it. Also I always try and eat my LFat cottage cheese with a simple sugar carb, i.e. apple wedges, banana's and for a real treat, I mix it with an equal portion of LFat yogurt, with the addition of fruit (simple sugar) it metabolizes better in the bloodstream.