Originally Posted by Ironman

Why not go to a gym now and work to failure? Just because your dieting, doesnt mean that cant work hard in the gym.
You cant gain muscle while dieting - to gain muscle you need an exess intake of calories than your maintance intake, to lose weight you need burn more calories than you need or consume less than you need - either way while dieting your body doesnt have the resourses to grow.

However by training hard in the gym you will burn more calories and aid your dieting - but at the same time training your muscles so hopefully you wont lose to much muscle mass.

When I diet - my training stays the same - I just reduce my daily intake of calories slowly, so I lose the fat slowly and not to much much muscle.