Time away has left me skinny-fat! Which program best helps recover muscle/shed fat?

[bsem2%40mail.com]

I had to live and work overseas for the last 18 months, and only had access to a gym a few times a week. My work was physical sometimes (but not physically demanding) and I did light cardio everyday to at least try to keep my heart healthy. I also had less control over my diet and eating schedule during this time. Here's my dilemma: I have become skinny fat and its pissing me off. I've lost about 15 pounds, I'm guessing mostly of muscle cuz I have a pouch around my belly and love handles to boot, but people keep commenting on how skinny I got. The great irony is that a little over two years ago (a few months before going overseas) I was prob at the peak of my strength and had a nice physique, with low body fat, well defined muscles etc. Needless to say, I want that physique back and when I look in the mirror now, all I can say is: "this sh*t's gotta change".

I now finally have full control over my diet and gym access again, so that is no longer an issue. Basically, I need suggestions on how to build my muscle back ASAP and cut this ridiculous grizzle around my waist. I've been lifting for years, so I won't be getting any newbie gains, thus I have to rely on the guidance of science. Is there a program (exercise with pertinent dietary/caloric suggestions) anyone would recommend that would be great for this? To reiterate, I don't just want my strength back, but also my muscle and I gotta get rid of my flabby midsection, so I have to be able to burn that off too. I'm disgusted with myself and Ive never dealt with this sort of starting point before (skinny and flabby) so I could use some insight.

Thank you tremendously for any guidance you can offer!

[Heisman2]

Well, at 18 months off you can still probably regain your lost strength/size much more quickly than you lost it OR you will experience noob gains again. I don't think you understand what noob gains actually are. So either way you are in a good place to make a lot of progress quickly.

Read the stickies here to learn the basics of dieting. You'd probably benefit from eating enough protein and letting hunger guide your intake initially while your strength gets back up; you're guaranteed to put some muscle on this way and the body composition changes will come. After a few weeks you can see how you are progressing and then decide from there what you want to do.