balancing weight gain for strength with overall health

[Cole Gorton]

I have been training 3 years, male 36 yo, 5'11 220 with apx 20%bf

In a nut shell i trained the entire first year SS style (LP to TM to HLM) and gained 35 lbs of mostly good weight and actually got strong. The last 2 years ive been doing some self programming and some other higher volume type programming like RTS...i lost about 10-15 lbs and some strength along with it.

So, im on my 2nd go of LP to try to regain some lost strength and its going good, but my question is : at my age should i be trying to stay lean and overall healthy at the expense of some strength, or should i go balls to the wall, gain back up to 235 so i can be strong as possible like i was after doing TM and setting those PRs after my 1st year?

i guess im trying to decide what is the best combination of health and strength. clearly i would be stronger at 250lbs but i would also be a fat ass and unhealthy. where is the cutoff? how to decide?

thanks

[Robert Santana]

How strong are you?