Although I am male, I can relate to what you mean…
I follow a bodybuilder on YouTube, his name on there is Gokuflex. He shows videos of his clients that ask for his help in losing fat, he runs through each week, what macros he placed them on and how much cardio for them to do while weight training.
What I learned is this… He does NOT place them on a calorie deficit. He utilizes cardio as the fat burning component, has them focus on hitting their macros each day and will place them at specific numbers both for macros/cardio… Normally he will start them at 2 x cardio a week for 300 calories… (300 calories could equal a good 45 minutes cardio session depending on what you choose, but this does not mean HIIT, this is for light cardio) Most of his clients will lose a good amount of weight per week anywhere from 1-2 lbs and throughout the weeks he will alter the macros (depending on their new average weight for the week) and he will also add cardio if needed at the same amount of 300 calories to burn…
They will most likely eat at maintenance level while the cardio brings in the deficit for fat loss. The week to week photos of his clients speak volumes. They lean out well, look a bit more muscular, and helped me understand the approach more…
When I was on a calorie deficit AND counting macros, it’s very hard to hit certain numbers especially on the protein side without risking more calories per day…
If you don’t mind cardio, then I suggest going with your maintenance calories, hitting your macros, and doing at least 2 x cardio sessions per week to start at about 300 calories to burn each session… Test it out… So far this has been done for males… Not sure how he’d approach females on this… This is to give you an idea.
I’m still trying to figure out my rhythm and what will work best for me. I’m looking to try this approach and use what I observed from his videos.
BTW - as far as losing muscle, I would probably think overload of cardio and a deficit would do the trick… Keep your protein intake where it needs to be, keep cardio in control and if you do more cardio than what you might consider normal, than just eat slightly more to maintain muscle volume. Fasted cardio should not affect losing muscle… I workout in the morning fasted with weights and I haven’t lost any muscle…
Just some ideas, I’m still learning myself…
Good luck!