should I lose all the fat before weight lifting?

[colubrid]

Hi everyone,
I have been reading the forums for a few weeks and learning a lot from you all. Great site.
I'm 6'2" and 33 years old. About 5 1/2 months ago I was 305lbs and an alcoholic. I quit drinking and started to lose weight without changing my diet. I got excited and started eating healthy and walking several miles most days to keep the weight comming off. I'm now at 248lbs and around 31% body fat. About 2 1/2 moths ago I started with just milatary presses and curls because they were about all I knew how to do with my one curl bar. The other day I joined a gym to have access to more equiptment.
I expect to be down to around 200lbs in June or July. I'm excited about lifting weights and repairing my body from years of abuse, but I'm patient. Would you all recomend just concentraiting on the weight loss for now or should I start lifting more weights?
Just to be very clear , I am patient and am more concerned with long term inprovment. If I will be beter off in two years because I wiated to lift thats fine with me.
Thanks in advance for any help.

[Tomek]

First of all mate, i command you on your attitude.. many people are in-patient and want results immediately..

You should DEFINATELY start weight training...
When lifting weights you build muscle, muscle speeds up your metabolism as it needs more fuel to burn resulting it'll use up more fuel (calories) just in the same essence as a worked V8 will use more fuel then a stock 4 cylinder...
Start lifting weights and you will be using more energy. You will build muscle mass under fat and once you lean out there will be a fine structure of muscle..
Look through the bodybuilding.com programs and find something that could work for you.. something you are comfortable with and able to cope with...

For some more detail on losing fat i suggest you red this:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=656995

Good luck dude.. and keep that positive attitude... you WILL be lean in no time!

[colubrid]

Thanks Tomek.
before I visied this site for the first time I wasn't aware of how hard it is suposed to be to gain muscle while lossing fat. Also I had never heard of the 6 month period where new lifters can make faster gains . So now I am thinking it may be more efficient to lose all the fat and start with a clean slate. As far as lossing weight goes , the hard part for me is lossing it slowly. I'm excited so the dieting is easy. Plus all this healthy food I've been eating has me stuffed well before I hit 2000 calories.
But I'm just thowing this out there. Since I really don't know wich way is the best way I will listen to you guys and then decide how to procede.

[PopeGregorius]

If you weigh over 100kg & have body fat>20% its a lot easier losing fat/gaining muscle at the same time. You do some cardio for fat loss, weights to increase muscle size, and have a calorie deficit.

It becomes a far trickier balancing act when you have BF<12% and weight 75kg, trying to put on muscle while at the same time not adding too much fat.

[TheManofSteel]

Colubrid -- if you are starting a weight lifting routine you may want to invest in one or two sessions with a trainer just so someone's there making sure your ok while you get your feet wet with weight training. This is a big deal especially since you were over 300 pounds and your muscles and joints took a good beating during that time. The PT can check if you have problems with any muscles or joints during your first session. When you decide to start up on your own make sure your first two weeks (At the very least) focus mostlly on compound movements and not many isolation movements. With your untrained body you will get good results.

Try incorporating both into one whole routine (which recent research says works very well). Start with say 15 minutes of cardio, do three excericses (e.g. squats, curl/presses, lunges), 15 minutes of cardio, 3 more exercises, and finally 15 minutes of cardio.

You may also want to try doing HIIT if you aren't already.

Big congrats on dropping alcohol !