Burning more than you eat...

Hello there, so my goal is to drop about 20 pounds in a little less than a month and a half this year. The reason being is for wrestling. I'm 17, 5'8 and 155 pounds right now. Everyone's told me that unless you plan on exercising the rest of your life (which I do) then you'll gain the weight back doubly if you lose it too rapidly. Is this true? I'm a pretty good runner and what I've been doing for the past week is eating around... 1000 calories which is a little less than normal but it's entirely from healthy foods like fruits and such. Then I also burn 1000 calories or more doing something like running and then after that, burning more with upper body workouts. Is this unhealthy ? I can't see it as detrimental because I am building muscle as well as losing fat. Basically, is it the same as starving yourself if you burn all that you eat?

That's not true, no. You won't necessarily gain your weight back in double if you lose it to rapidly. A month and a half is plenty of time to lose 20 pounds and keep it off.

However, first of all, 1000 calories is not enough to eat under any circumstances. 1500 minimum, especially if you're working out. Secondly, how much protein are you getting? You want to make sure you're getting enough protein, otherwise your body will resist burning fat. Thirdly, you can't lose fat and build muscle at the same time and get significant results in either under natural circumstances, and even if you could you would be gaining weight, not losing it. You have to consume more than you burn if you want to build muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat.

If you need to drop a weight class by october then building muscle is not the way to go. Lift just enough to maintain, then cardio, cardio, cardio, along with a diet to make your metabolism work for you and you should reach your goal pretty easily. I'd actually try and accelerate it a bit for wrestling, lose about five pounds more than you want to lose in about two weeks less, then put on another five pounds of muscle before you weigh in. That's just what I would do though.

Awesome, so you did some wrestling back in school ?

I'm not getting much protein actually apart from a shake. What's a good source of protein that isn't high in fat ? I guess I'm more concerned with losing the fat than building the muscle again. Do you think five pounds a week for the next month would be a sensible goal ?

Yeah, that seems sensible to me. I did wrestle some back in high school. Shakes are a good source of protein, but as for actual foods I'd go with chicken breast. Not too expensive, easy to make, high in protein, low in fat, plus you get some other enzymes that'll help you out.

black man chicken etc

if you make a high protein soup that gives you your days calories youll feel fuller longer and wont snack or really even need anymore meals for the day.

Make it thick and itll stay in there aaaaall day

Wait a second, your target weight is 135 at 5'8"? I mean assuming that you're going to cut water as well you're going to be at something like a 53 or 56 kg weight class right? I don't know how well you'll do there at that height.

Back on topic, lean beef cuts, chicken and skim milk are all great sources of protein that are low in fat.

Which weighs more a pound of muscle or a pound of fat?

Great necro bro