1st Post - Question about fast weight loss

lucor001

Hi All,
First post here and I had a question that's bugged me for some time. Let me first say, I'm *NOT* interested in losing weight in any manner that is unhealthy. I consider myself a patient person - this is purely scientific curiosity.

I've heard 2lbs/week is the recommended speed to lose weight (max). About a month ago I added swimming regularly (laps) as an exercise routine - from the couch to the pool! In addition I signed up here on MFP and started tracking my "intake". What interests me is that although I'm currently generally meeting my intake goals, I could go further and I don't think my body would care much. What I mean is instead of a sandwich for lunch, I could easily bring celery/broccoli/carrots/etc... and eat them from the bag and add they'd add up to very little calories instead. This would give me another ~300 - 400 a day. I don't think I'd be hungry or malnourished either, but that's the heart of my question. Would doing this be safe, or is running a 1400+ calorie deficit each day (essentially I'd be eating ~1000 cal for dinner, maybe 100 for lunch and I haven't eaten breakfast in 10 years) while still eating actually that unhealthy? In a similar manner, on the days I swim I burn over 700 calories (I take the average of web calculations and the calorie count on my HRM and average them) so should I actually be going out of my way to eat those calories back?

I'm sure a question similar to this is out there on the web, but I google wouldn't show them to me . It's probably worth noting, I'm a male of 225lbs. I just want to confident what I'm doing to myself is healthy - never done any sort of weight loss for fitness routine before (I feel healthy ).
Thanks!

suzicurry

1st I want to say congrats for the swimming. I personally know how well that can work and how easy it is on your body. As for switching up your lunch intake I have 2 things.......eat as much veggies as you like, especially if they are raw. Broc is better than carrots as far as calories, sugar and most of all fiber. What really might help you though is if you switch you big meal to your lunch. eating in the middle of the day will help your body not go into starvation mode since you are not eating breakfast (I seldom eat it as well) Anyhow, if your large calorie intake is in the middle of the day you have the rest of the day to diggest and burn it off before you go to sleep rather than have a lot of calories at the end of the day with no chance for your body to really break it down.

If you are weary of this because you workout after lunch and feel you need the food after your workout more think about this....your workout will help burn what you have eaten for lunch and for dinner I highly recommend a lot of veggies and a protien shake to repair your muscles. This will aid healthy digestion as well as keep you full during the night and help with sleep.

Please tell me what you think and if you try it