Losing weight fast or slow

[donkeylove]

I trained seriously for 15 years before encountering various illnesses that laid me up for the majority of the past 5 years. For the first time in my life I am badly out of shape. At just a shade under 6 foot, I was weighing about 235, and not a good 235. I started cutting back on food first for a few weeks, and dropped weight fast despite doing no cardio. I was down 13 lbs after 2 weeks. I figured water weight and it would slow. After another week of cutting back, I had dropped another 6 pounds.

I am not talking severe dieting,just eating well. At this point I said I have to slow this process down because I am obviously going to lose muscle. I started lifting after the 3rd week, and now after a month of working out again, I am a lb heavier. I realize that I was once a serious lifter and blow back up fairly quickly with good form and muscle memory. My quandry is that I am having a hard time finding a middle ground. It seems if I lift at all I don't lose a pound. I am about 217 now, and while I could carry the weight and be lean, at 35 I would prefer to be a solid 190. I am tempted to just knock off the lifting and shoot down to 185 in a short time, and then start lifting heavy again to put the 5 back on. I know this flys in the face of the lose slowly,don't lose muscle theory, but I know guys like Franco columbo and other older bb's say drop the weight fast and then work out.

For the experts, what is my quickest way to a rock solid 190? If I continue to lift I feel it will be a struggle even with heavy cardio to drop a 1/2 lb a week. I think I am just going to shoot the weight off and then hit it hard, even though it goes against conventional wisdom.

Any thoughts from the knowledgable.