Important note: Please advise your doctor before following any plan. Don’t follow the advice below if you are under 18.
People always ask: “How much weight can you lose in a week?” Well… to answer your question I have good news, awesome news, and bad news.
First onto the good news: YOU CAN LOSE A TON OF WEIGHT IN ONE WEEK
That’s right, you don’t have to be bound to the conventional wisdom of only losing 1 or 2 pounds a week. Extreme weight loss diets can definitely work, but only for a short period of time.
In fact, you can lose up to 15 pounds in one week if you do it correctly.
Now onto the awesome news: ALL THAT WEIGHT YOU LOSE WILL BE WATER AND FAT, NOT MUSCLE
Yup, you read that correctly, if you follow the methods at the end of this post, all the weight you lose during the week will be pure body fat. The conventional statement that losing more than 2 pounds per week leads to muscle, organ, and hair loss is absolute unicorn shit.
How do I know this? Because some awesome scientists from the American College Of Nutrition back in 1999, conducted a study, which tested 2 groups of people for 12 weeks.
One group only did traditional cardio, while the other group only did weight training. Both groups ate 800 calories a day. At the end of the study, both groups lost large amounts of weight, but the one that only did cardio lost large amounts of lean muscle mass, and the one that only did weight training didn’t lose any muscle mass at all.
So there you go, some hard hitting scientific facts that prove that you will not lose muscle during extreme dieting as long as you lift weights.
Note: And if you don’t have a gym membership or if you don’t have access to any weights, then doing a well-designed bodyweight program like Bodyweight Burn is your next best option.
And lastly, the bad news: YOU HAVE TO EAT VERY VERY LOW CALORIES
So yeah…. you have to eat a ridiculously low amount of calories to lose a lot of weight in a week. I’m talking along the lines of 800 calories a day.
The amount that would make any nutritionist hang themselves.
And now, onto the plan, but first, a picture of steaks:

The 2-step plan to lose the maximum amount of weight in a week
Please note that the following plan can be used by both men and woman.
And don’t do this plan if you’re under 18, you’re way too young to be eating such low calories.
I guarantee that if you follow the plan below, you will lose 10-15 pounds(water and fat) in one week:
1) For one week only, eat 800 calories per day.
2) Workout 2-3 times per week with weights. Make sure the weights are heavy and be sure to hit all body parts.
That’s all.
Some notes/tips about the above 2 steps:
- 800 calories is very little food, for any man, woman, or baby walrus. Because of this, I suggest that you only eat 1 meal per day a la Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat. If you eat one 800 calorie meal per day, then you’ll at least feel somewhat satisfied, but if you split that up into 3 or even worse, 6 meals per day, then you’re not going to fare so well on this one week venture. Yes, this means that you will be fasting 24 hours every day for a whole week. Just remember, you will be burning fat, not muscle.
- Whenever possible, eat higher protein and eat foods with high water content such as fruits and soups. Also, drink lots of coffee and green tea, since they both tend to blunt hunger quite well.
- Stick with heavy compound exercises when in the gym. That means no curling and crunching, and if you even step foot on a treadmill, my dumbass radar will go off and I may have to kill you.
- If you can’t lift weights, then your next best option is to do some sort of bodyweight training. You know…exercises like squats, push-ups, lunges, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc..
- This is a mental game more than anything else. When you’re eating very few calories to lose weight faster, your mind starts playing tricks on you. Your stomach is gonna be grumbling more often. And there are gonna be times where you want nothing more than to self-sabotage yourself. Which is why the next point is so important.
- Above all, keep yourself distracted and out of the kitchen. If you’re constantly prancing around the kitchen and thinking about food, you’re going to fail. So keep yourself busy. Read a book, play some video games, take a nap, work on your tan, or shave your pubes. I don’t care. Just do something that doesn’t involve food.
- [EDIT 10/6/2014] I should also add that your protein intake needs to be HIGH. Like really high. In fact, the majority of your calories should probably come from protein, fruits, and veggies if you want this diet to be effective. The protein will help keep you full but more importantly also help maintain muscle.
Remember, this is only for one week
I just wanted remind you all, that this sort of extreme weight loss plan is only a temporary plan.
The results don’t have to be temporary, but the plan is. Please do not try and do this weight loss plan for more than a week.
Doing so is really going to mess with your head and you’ll most likely binge back to your original weight.
After one week, transition to a more moderate weight loss plan for the long haul.
I hope you guys now know how much weight you could lose in a week if went balls to the walls.
Want even better results? Take it to the next level with Fat Loss Boost
Many people have been asking me, “Can I do this for more than 7 days?”
Uh…
Yes and no.
Technically, you could eat 800 cals per day for a sustained period of time.
But sooner or later it’s gonna backfire on you.
If you want a more sustainable rapid fat loss plan…
Then I highly recommend checking out Fat Loss Boost.
This is a more long-term approach than the strategy I outlined in this blog post.
It’s a strategic rapid fat loss diet that works in 14 day cycles.
So you go hard on the diet for 14 days, lose a crap ton of weight, take a break, and repeat.
And the results from Fat Loss Boost are even better:
““I have been able to lose 10 pounds using this program. Starting weight 186. Weight this morning was 176.”
“I lost 12 lbs for my first attempt. Started at 201.7 and ended at 189.9. I am amazed!!! Thanks to everywhere for all the support and great hacks.”
“Ok people I’m done 😀. I hit 171.8 today, my goal was to break 172 on this round which was what I weighed almost ten years ago (lowest as an adult). That’s 30.2 lbs in just under 3 months.“
Pretty crazy, right?
Definitely give it a look if you want a realistic, yet challenging plan that burns fat faster than anything. you ever tried before.
=================
Questions? Like steak? Let me know down below.
I respond to (almost) every comment, which is pretty crazy considering there’s been over 3000 comments. Sigh…I need a hobby.


Can you be more specific? I’d love to try this 800 cal. diet but you provided little in the way of specificity. For instance, you recommend keeping protein high–“the majority of your calories” I believe you said. So does that mean 51%? What about the remaining 49% How many carbs, how much fat. I’m not trying to rain on your parade–as I said, I’d love to try this but I need more detail.
please advise.
it should be at least 100 grams of protein.
Can u have sex during this diet
seriously? Yes.
*COUGH COUGH* slut. you act as if you couldn’t last a week without sex, anyways.
hey be nice.
Just wondering how much water I should be drinking a day with this diet 🙂
enough to stay hydrated.
weight loss is such an issue, the trick seem to eat high proteins to keep hunger at bay. the weather does not help to be active: nice cups of tea & cakes yum yum…
How much is enough to keep you hydrated? 3-4 bottles, or is that too high?
depends on the person, how much they weigh, exercise, etc…
Drink enough to stay hydrated and ward off hunger but don’t overdo it.
I weigh 112 and I want to get down to 90 pounds. Will this help me.
if you’re very close to your goal weight, i probably wouldn’t do this.
I drink about an gallon a day but I’m over 300 pounds
Hahaha Jealous much?? It’s not being a slut if it’s with one guy. FYI
Tianna, you can have sex with me but only on the last day of the diet – I dont want to shag a fatty 😀
Omg ahaha phil xD
Exactly how I reacted. Lol
Phil, you sound like a guy no woman would ever want to have sex with. Good job.
Please tell me this isn’t a serious question.
Will diet soda hurt weight loss on thus plan ?
Will 3 cans hurt?
no
You should NOT drink fizzy drinks if you’re trying to lose weight, Do that and you’ll fuck up your weigh loss thing
Yes soda is already bad diet is worst because the chemicals they use to keep it from giving calories actually causes chemical imbalances in the body making you gain weight..with that said if you only had a average amount or a little bit it wouldn’t hinder progress just slow it a bit
um yes. do you know about the horrible things in diet soda?!
i am about 5’5 and weigh 140 as a 14 year old female. i am very active (playing at least 18 hours a week of hardcore tennis) how quickly and safely can I get down to 115/120
Definitely don’t do this diet. Have you tried just starting to eat healthier?
Even though some sodas are “diet” they still contain a lot of sugar which is stored in your body as fat. Sugar is good because it gives us energy, but if we intake large amounts then a lot of it is stored for long periods of time in our body, which then converts into fat and it stays there. I would recommend to try and leave any kind of soda out so that your body uses the “sugar” in your fat that has already been stored. This will help you use the resources that your body already has stored for you, instead of adding more unnecessary fat.
Can I eat less than 800?
no
I been using level life protein shakes and bars. They are designed for diabetics which im not but with one gram of sugar i was sold. Is this efficient for this diet?
i recommend whole foods.
I have been eating only 200 calories per day and have had absolutely no energy what so ever it is horrible, I wouldn’t advise going any lower than 700 calories, because you will feel faint or dizzy Also me only eating 200 calories i ended up anaan area if 0. I hope this helped.
No it’s bad for you
If I wanted to do this diet again after the first week how long should I wait in between before I start again?
quite a while, at least 6-8 weeks. It’s not a short cut, and should be used very sparingly.
What can I do to get “more” energy for working out? 800 cal seems like it will leave me tired/fatigued quickly. I really rely on the foods I consume for energy before workout
Hi Peter,
Have you ever though of working out fasted? I know it sounds weird, but you typically have even more energy when you work out fasted. In addition to having more energy, you’ll be more likely to use fat as fuel since there is no food in your system.
But if you’re not into working out completely fasted, then you can try and drink green tea/coffee beforehand, since the caffeine will give you a boost of energy. Also, have you ever considered caffeine pills?
hi im wondering if ill still be able to loose about 5kgs on this one week diet, when the nutritionist says im not overweight but also not under (in other words the perfect weight appearantly but i can still loose a few kgs). And can i also do some intense interval training in this period of time, or is that not recomended or what exercise would be the best training with my own body weight? 🙂
the 10 pound weight loss is through a combination of fat and water. I would avoid interval training for now and stick with bodyweight resistance training. This is one of my favorite workouts – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhWjPYdu_qk
Hi peter! Try to drink coffe, or something with caffeine. It gives you energy and teas, coffee, etc., are quite good for you! Try to not get any creamer, or sugar.
Btw, the coffee and green tea works wonders for me to calm my appetite down!
Peter,
Yes definitely. I love how coffee and green tea suppress hunger. Almost anything with caffeine helps. Diet soda also works too since the carbonation helps fill you up.
Diet Soda has a s*** load of sodium.
Tred carefully… Diet or Reg Soda is bad. 😀
“I guarantee that if you follow the plan below, you will lose 10-15 pounds(water and fat) in one week”
1) Have you done this?
2) How can you make this claim? Not everyone that reads your site is 30 lbs overweight…
Hi Levi,
1) Yes, I have done this program before, and lost about 12 pounds. The first 2-3 days will be mostly water, but even that can make a big difference in the appearance of your body.
2) Of course, if you are already lean and close to your target weight, then you may want to take a more moderate approach to weight loss. Also, it doesn’t matter if you’re 30 pounds overweight, you can only be 10 pounds overweight and do this program and it’ll work.
How long should workouts last? Any specific workout plan that should be used? I’m not exactly known for working out…
And what’s a good meal that reaches 800 calories? I like specific instructions!
Hey amber,
For the workout, there is nothing specific you have to do, just make sure you are doing some form of resistance training to preserve your muscles, preferably with weights. For example, you could do the following program taken from my recent Natalie Portman article:
Mon:
Dumbbell squat and press – 3 x 8 reps
Push ups – 2 x as many as you can do
Dumbbell lunges – 3 x 8 reps per leg
Lat pulldown – 2 x 10 reps
Side plank – 1 x 60 seconds per side
Wed:
Dumbbell reverse lunge and curl – 3 x 8 reps
Dumbbell chest press- 2 x 10 reps
Dumbbell squat- 3 x 8 reps per leg
Cable row – 2 x 10
Side plank – 1 x 60 seconds per side
Fri:
Lying leg raises – 4 x 15 reps
Incline dumbbell fly – 2 x 10 reps
1 arm dumbbell row – 2 x 10 reps
Dumbbell curls – 2 x 5 reps
Dumbbell tricep extension – 2 x 5 reps
And as for a good 800 calorie meal… that depends. It really doesn’t matter what you eat. Just try to take a multivitamin so you aren’t lacking in any vitamin/mineral deficiencies. But for example, a good 800 calorie meal to help fill you up could be some type of chicken soup with lots of vegetables, herbs, and chicken. The protein in the chicken will help keep you full. And afterwards you could have a large apple or something.
Hope this helps
Lol you aree one funny dork… most entertaining weightloss blog i have ever read(:
Thank you for making me laugh on the way home from LA.. aka biggest shit hole on earth..
-kris
p.s. the diet works… ive done it a few times. And so far lost 16 pounds.
Haha thanks hamburger951. Glad you like it!
Can we just eat meat throughout the day and get similar results?
Like atkins on Nitrus?
So just pure chicken breast,green tea, veges (0 calories in them rite?- besides potatoes etc).
SO juts extremely low calorie veges with Lean meat all day and workout 5-6 days moderately , wud we get similar results? I got a camp on the 25th . Im at 87kg now. Would like to get to 80kg. Whats your say on this? I can go gym twice if need be, Im well learned in powerlifting/olympic lifting( Do both at the gym) . Kettlebells/jumpe ropes/circuits etc… The whole Lot. Done it all……………… (just for the notice)…………. Any ideas please?????????? 10 days…. I got. Wats ur best ideA?
Thanks
Sushi,
Sure you can eat meat, but make sure you don’t go over 800 calories. I’m not sure what you mean by “0 calories” in chicken breast because it definitely has calories.
For exercising, I think 5-6x a week is a bit too much. You can do fine on just 3x per week. Just do some form of weight training. There”s no need to go twice a day.
Hope this helps.
Hi there
Thanks
well ive been sick since november 9th.. Flu and exams
tomorrow is the 21st – Monday
Camp is on friday
I plan to gym it hard 5 times this week before camp..as il have 4 days of at camp
Any certain diet u can recomend?
I know the atkins,low carb etc but ive never done one before.
Tnation.com suggests using dieuretics to flush out water weight quicker .
whats ur ideas?
5 days, will do heavy circuit training as the methods
Any ideas please?
so:
5 days
any diet u give il do
workouts?
Thanks again!!!!
(p.s wat to avoid as well?)
Sushi
For your diet, are you planning to do the extreme diet outlined in this post. If not, you can just stick to higher protein diet to satiate hunger.
As for diruretics, I don’t recommend them unless you have to get super lean before an event or something.
Are there any adverse health effects to eating below 1000 calories a day for a prolonged period of time? I’ve been able to go 3-4 days eating that way and I’ve found that my focus is better and the hunger pangs go away pretty quickly. Just wondering if I can do this continuously.
Awesome articles, by the way. I had no clue about weight loss before I found Fitmole and after using your advice, I’ve made lots of strides really quickly.
advice, I’ve been losi
Thanks David, glad I could help. And yeah, technically you could continuously go low calorie but I don’t always recommend it since people don’t tend to last very long on these types of diets. It’s better to just do it for 7-10 days, then transition to a more manageable long term diet.
Hi,
I know that you say NOT to do this plan for more than a week, but say you had an important event or something coming up in 2 or 3 weeks and you were desperate, would you still lose a good amount of weight if you were to do the diet for 2 weeks or would it just not be very effective after 1 week?
Thanks,
Your best bet is to follow the atkins diet induction phase.
Would I get the same results eating 2 400 calorie meals instead of one 800 calorie meal?
Ya that’s fine. You can split up the calories however you want. But in my experience, it’s easier if you just eat 1 big meal per day.
Nice blog. I started one a few months ago advocating pretty much the exact same thing you are here – that all the stuff about what time to eat, how many times a day to eat, etc., is all baloney. You you be eating one meal a day WHILE you sleep and it wouldn’t matter if you’re expending more than you’re taking in. Breakfast to rev up your metabolism. Please. I don’t blame the public for believing this crap. It *sounds* like it makes sense – till you think about it for a minute. But I do blame them for continuing to believe the tripe even after you point out to them how it’s flawed. Whatever.
Anyway, I wanted to post here to point out to you that that the study only measured the results for aerobic only vs resistance only.
Personally, I believe that we can benefit from aerobic activity. If you can’t jog for 10 minutes without feeling like you’re going to die, you’re just not that healthy. The problem is jogging 10 or 15+ kms a day without any resistance training whatsoever.
I’m a firm believer that the best plan for overall health is to eat only how much you need to (and it doesn’t matter what you eat as long as you get a reasonable amount of “healthy” food to get your nutrients from – the rest is used for energy and it doesn’t matter if it’s fat, carbs or protein), and get a variety of exercise.
To say that strength training is ALL you need is being narrow minded, IMO.
Strength training is needed, yes, but I am convinced that one should round out their plans with some high-intensity training as well as some aerobics such as jogging or cycling. Jogging 3 kms a couple times a week (not 15).
Hey GettingFit,
The reason I posted the study was to simply prove that going super low calorie will not result in lean muscle loss just as long as you lift weights. The reason I don’t recommend aerobic exercise while doing an 800 calorie diet is because it’s simply too much activity considering how little food you’re eating.
I’m not against aerobic activity, I simply don’t recommend it when your calories are super low. I’ll probably do a post on aerobics in the future.
Thanks for stopping by
-Keith
Okay, so I know you’re saying not to do aerobics because of the low calorie consumption, and I get that, but I’m just wondering, if someone were to do this diet and then maybe do either running or interval training on the treadmill would this make the plan less effective or change it someway?
No avoid running or interval training.
Hey I’m a 15 yr old girl n I weigh 116 lbs. My target weight is 99 lbs and I want to get to that weight as soon as possible really. I want to lose 17 lbs basically…., so how long will it take me to lose this much if I do this diet? I also do 45 mins of skipping a day:)
Hey Zooslander,
Actually, since you’re still so young, I’m not 100% confident recommending this diet for you. Maybe you should follow this diet I wrote instead:
http://www.fitmole.net/how-to-eat-to-lose-fat/
Thank you for the quick reply, much appreciated:) I really need to lose weight for a family wedding in mid january so I’m honestly willing to try anything. I just want to know if weight loss is deffinately guaranteed using this method?? I’ll hav no problem sticking to the 800 calorie limit because I used to eat 400 calories a day a while back so 800 calories is easy. Will skipping also help me to lose weight also??N how long will take for me to lose 17 lbs using this method??
Sorry typo in my first comment I’m actually 16 yrs of age if that helps ?
Zooslander,
If you say you’ve done 400 calories before, then go ahead and do the diet I laid out in this article. But just be careful and stop if you start feeling funny.
I’m sure you’ll lose plenty of weight on this diet as long as you stick with it. As for exercise, I would recommend some form of resistance training instead of skipping, such as push ups, squats, and any other bodyweight type movement.
As for how long it’ll take to lose 17 pounds, I’m not entirely sure. It’ll probably take more than 1 week, but probably no more than 3-4 weeks if you actually stick to this diet.
Hope this helps.
Sorry to be a bother again….but would I still lose weight if I ate 800 calories for 3 days n then ate properly for one day then go bak to eating 800 calories??
Ya definitely. Eating 800 calories per day creates a huge calorie deficit, so you could eat normal one day with no problem.
Thanks for the replies guys
Unfortuantely, Ive torn both my wrists in a accidental clean 2 weeks ago,
My form was 95kg about 90% or so
so tried 100kg, failed and slipped on the wrists, ligament tore fully
so im injured for life now since ligaments never heal fully.
To be honest, Im depressed as *f*skd but cant do anything. Wish I had broken it as breaks heal back stronger since bones get more blood then the barely any blood supply of ligaments…
Moral of the story
take it easy on the knees , shoulders and wrists, obvsly lower back also
So
Deadlifts- dont kill it.. dont go above 3-5 reps.. If ur not warmed up fully, got chalk, straps etc.. DONT DO IT
Bench- in my opinion it sucks as a exercise as all it does it develop ur front delts and triceps but still, learn the powerlifiting style.. Want chest mass? Dumbell press 100000x better. Read tnations shoulder savers series, chest articles
Squats- learn full depth.. half way is destroying ur knees.. read Mark rippletoes study and its common sense
Wrists- take it easy on supinated barbell curls and power cleans .. wrists do everything. ….. have a broken knee and back and u can still do 10000 exercises…. with scrwed wrists, u cant do SHIT. altho lowerbacks the worst of all but yea
Anyways people, enjoy trainig but better of, TAKE IT OFF for a bit
Ive got to:
– work my lowerback/abs/cycling/foam roll everyday for a year now to getr back the maximum of 80% mobility or so ..as ligaments dont heal like i said before
TRAIN HARD!
Have safe xmas and new years!!!
Good advice sushi. I agree with everything you said. Sorry to hear about your injury, hope you feel better and Merry Christmas!
sooo yeah I’m 18 5’7″ and weigh 145 I wanna lose weight, but I’m not sure if this is to harsh for me? I don’t wanna lose to much, because I am already pretty tall. Is this workout right for me? /:
Hey Amber,
Just give this diet a try for 1 week. If you like the way you look after then just aim to maintain it.
-Keith
wouldnt u still keep around the same weight since u are losing fat but gaining muscle
Jared,
I’m not sure what you mean. This is an extreme fat loss diet and it would be very hard to gain muscle during this time.