How fast should you lose weight?

What the first month usually looks like

The first week often shows a big drop, sometimes 1.5 to 2.5 kg. Do not bank on that continuing. When you eat less, especially fewer carbs and less salt, your body lets go of some stored carbohydrate (glycogen) and the water bound to it. It is real weight, but most of it is not fat.

From week two or three the trend settles into the true rate, and it will wobble. A week with a curry night, a period or a hard leg session might show no change or a small gain, followed by a bigger drop the week after. Judge progress on the weekly average, and read why the scales go up and down for the common causes.

Why faster is usually worse

Crash diets are tempting because they deliver quick numbers. The costs arrive later.

• More muscle loss. Big deficits make it harder to keep lean tissue, especially if protein is low and you are not lifting.
• Worse training. Strength and conditioning sessions feel flat, so you do less and lose fitness as well as fat.
• Hunger and rebound. Aggressive restriction tends to end in a spell of overeating that wipes out a good chunk of the progress.
• Health risks. Very rapid weight loss raises the risk of gallstones, and the NHS advises that very low calorie diets of 800 kcal a day or less should only be followed under medical supervision.

Losing 6 kg in 12 weeks and keeping it off is a far better outcome than losing 10 kg in eight weeks and regaining 12 by Christmas.

When a faster pace can make sense

If you are starting with a lot of weight to lose, you can often lose faster in absolute terms without the same downsides, because each kilo is a smaller share of your body weight. Someone at 140 kg losing 1.2 kg a week is still under 1% a week.

Some people are also offered medically supervised options through their GP or an NHS weight management service, such as weight loss medicines or low calorie meal replacement plans. Those can be appropriate, and the same principles still apply: keep protein up, keep lifting and keep moving. Our guide to starting fat loss when you have a lot to lose covers this in more depth.

It slows down as you get leaner

The leaner you get, the slower sensible progress becomes. A person with plenty of fat to lose might hold 1% a week for months, while someone near the end of a cut might do well to hold 0.5%. The last few kilos take the longest, which is normal and not a sign you are doing something wrong.

Maintenance also drops as you lose weight, so a deficit that gave you 0.7 kg a week in month one might give you 0.4 kg a week by month three. Recheck your numbers every six to eight weeks and use the calorie deficit guide to reset your target.

How to check your rate properly

Working out your weekly rate takes two minutes. Weigh yourself each morning under the same conditions, average each week's readings, then compare this week's average with last week's.

Say your average was 88.4 kg last week and 87.8 kg this week. That is a 0.6 kg drop, or about 0.7% of your body weight, which is right in the target zone. One week proves little, so look at the pattern across three or four weeks before changing anything.

• Under about 0.25% a week for three weeks running: tighten up your tracking first, then trim 100 to 200 kcal or add daily steps.
• Between 0.5 and 1%: leave it alone. This is the zone you want.
• Over about 1.25% a week after the first fortnight: add some food back, especially around training, unless you are following a medically supervised plan.

If you do not own scales or would rather not use them, a waist measurement every two weeks and a few photos in the same light can tell a similar story.

A realistic timeline

Take someone at 90 kg who wants to get to around 80 kg. At 0.5 to 0.9 kg a week, with a week or two at maintenance along the way, that is roughly 14 to 22 weeks of work. It might feel slow, but it is about four months of steady habits, and they finish with more muscle, better fitness and a far better chance of keeping it off.

Thinking in months rather than weeks helps with goal setting too. Our guide to setting realistic fitness goals is worth a read, and the 12-week fat loss plan shows how to structure the first three months. If you want coaching and a group that keeps you turning up, the Lycan Strength free trial gives you a week of unlimited classes.