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If I eat less while continuing with bodyweight strength training, will I lose my muscle mass? My strength? I am even okay with losing some muscle mass if my strength keeps improving. Is there some way to increase strength while decreasing weight(fat OR muscle)?

So I'm new here, hello! Love the site! I'm 5'6", about 185, body fat percentage of about 23-25%, so definitely overweight but not visibly obese. My weight distribution on my body is just weird. Had a personal trainer for a year, but realized after going through these articles that most of his guidance and advice were just plain wrong (we would do strength training, and then he'd tell me to go burn 500 calories in cardio, and apparently that was all wrong). I have slight muscle definition in my arms, and I've been told by numerous trainers and fitness specialists that I have great leg muscle definition (played hockey for a few years so my calves are massive). I also have an obnoxious "muffin top" but not a beer gut. I think my body is weird and i want to change it for every reason - strength, health, being able to find better fitting clothes for my height, raising my confidence level, all sorts of reasons. I hope this is all sufficient information. So my question. I want to lose body fat and get more bulk and muscle definition, but I can't find anything on the site that takes both into account considering what I consider to be an unusual body structure. What's my best route here? I've been on paleo for two weeks and I feel great with it, but then I read that unless I'm packing on the calories and eating all the time (including foods NOT on the paleo diet) I won't gain muscle from the strength training I do. But if I eat all this food to gain muscle mass while working out, I'm bound to put on extra fat, and I don't have the clothes for that supposedly temporary fat gain, and I don't want to buy new clothes that will soon be too big for me. Am I over thinking this? Steve went to the gym for 6 years with no real results, and I'm afraid that may be the same boat I'm in. Seems I need to she'd excess weight and THEN begin to build mass, but I don't want to lose the muscle I already have. I you read all that, then thank you. Sorry for my wordiness, I'm trying to be thorough. My current inventory: -Iron gym, with assisted strap because I can't do a single pull-up on my own, and only a couple of chin ups. -2x10lb dumb bells, 2x20 lb dumb bells -ab roller -Plenty of time So, NF community, what's a guy to do? Thank you sincerely for any help you can offer. John