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.


This is absolute ignorance. You can in fact continue a fasting diet like this EASILY for much longer than one week. Over a two month period, I ate 300 calories (one day) and then went two full days without eating, and so on. After the first two weeks (having shrunk the stomach) there were no cravings or feelings of starvation. At that point I would allow myself fruits and greens on the days I would normally fast. The weight continued to fall off even faster, especially when drinking 6 bottles of water a day. No exercise involved other than normal activities. Each week I would feel up to doing more activities which helped even more so with my weight loss. I lost a total of 25 pounds (complete fat) in 5 weeks and then managed to maintain that weight there after, eating only when I was hungry and making sure to not over eat. I’m not sure why it is not mentioned in the above article that after making fasting a habit even for “just a week” you will naturally be WAY less hungry from there on.
Then that means you’re probably really fat.
When you have a lot more fat, you can go lower calorie for longer. But for those with moderate/low amounts to lose, this would be stupid to do for more than a few days/week.
And what’s absolute ignorance is coming to the conclusion that your approach is right purely based off anecdotal evidence.
Some guy along long time ago in a desert not to far from the middle of East had a diet he went on for 40days and 40 nights. I guess that’s how far you need to be away from the Fridge.
K McC
This sounds good but hard what would you recommend this 800 calorie meal be?
Lots of dead animal, veggies, some fruit.
How much of the weight will be water? Will the water weight be gained back when I eat a regular amount of calories? Not over eating like before but going to the suggested caloric intake for a day once I finish the 7 days will I gain back water weight/ weight?
Sounds unhealthy.
so does being fat.
F-ing GREAT answer!! I am not religious but that deserves an AMEN!!
AMEN
How much weight could u lose in two weeks with eating nothing at all?? Just curious. I know…with being in a gym once a day for two hours doing cardio 3 miles on treadmill and weight lifting too…and I don’t eat bread or sugar or drink.:( grrr…on the drinking. I lost 7lbs this week…that’s it. I’m aggravated. In high school..I never ate..rock star lifestyle.. So never noticed anything.
You would lose a lot…
You would also wreck your health.
K thank you. Do u really think just two weeks..would hurt??
I am a 47 year old female, 5’5 and small boned. On December 16 I weighed 164 and on January 14 I weighed 153.2. I lost 10.8 pounds in one month on the paleo diet and no exercise. However, as of today I have only lost 6 ounces. My first thought was to go back to counting calories and running because that is all I know how to do. I don’t have access to weights and I find the free workouts on bodyrock extremely difficult. I really ticked off at my self right now for not loosing more weight. I have an event in 21 days and really want to loose 10 to 15 pounds by then. I need any advice that you can offer. Thanks
Gosh..your story is identical to mine. I started the same time as u. I was 164. M I am currently 152 and dropping. I’m a female…five foot ten and a half. I want o be 135 by mid summer. I eat five hundred to eight hundred calories a day. I count calories very closely. I’m a strict vegan. I make sure I get all my essential and non essential vitamins. I drink lots of water and tea and coffee and red apple cider vinager garlic and healthy things like radishes and asparagus etc etc…….I lose!about two to three lbs a week. It’s hard to stay away from salt while eating like this. My BMR is 22….I’m trying to get to a BMR of 18. I know this is dangerous. I have a degree in osteopathic med.
I clicked on this because I’m naturally eating about 800 cals a day and struggling to eat the 1,200 I set out for myself (I’m eating things like homemade soups, chicken and vedge, ommletts etc) I found this artical because I wanted to find out if it was healthy (as everyone keeps telling me I’ll store more fat) – my question is why not go near a treadmill? I’m asking because I use the treadmill 5 times a week. I’m so confused with everyone conflicting each other.
Why are you “naturally” eating 800? That’s not a very natural thing to do.
Because you’re already on such low calories, doing more exercise than needed could really burn you out.
I’m running roughly 5 miles a day, should I stop to do this diet?
I would probably eat more carbs and bump the overall calorie intake up.
So stop running?
im 220 pounds
I need to go to 170 max
im 16 years old
DO NOT DO THIS!!!!!
Hi Keith!
Can I do an interval of this? For example, this week 800 cal then next 2 weeks 1200 cal then back again at 800?
I’ve done this before so I can prove that this really works. I am now not tracking my calorie intake but I have an idea. I think Im going back and forth like yesterday maybe 1200 and today I think 900 calories
Nope that’s stupid. I would never do that. Feel free to, it’s your body but I don’t recommend that.
Does 800 calories here mean 800 kcal or 800Calories ? Because a 100g of tomato has 13 kcal! Please clarify. Thanks.
It’s kcal. 800 cal to kcal is 0.8 kcal, not even a full one. That’s tantamount to full blown anorexia which isn’t what he’s advocating.
I lost 49 pounds in just over one week from eating 200 and under calories a day and working out four times for two hours plus a swimming a mile and sprinting 0.3 miles a day 🙂 260 pounds to 211! I didn’t think it was even possible but i’m going out to buy some new clothes this weekend!
R u serious?????
Need little help here 49 lbs in a week
I’m sorry. I’ve been doing that 200 calories and under diet for while now, and its not possible to lose 49 pounds in a week. But if you are serious, please, be carefull this could be dangerous and you could end up being very sick and end up in the hospital. I’m underweight, got addicted to that diet and now i’m anorexic. Please reconsider this.
I did this for 3 days, ate sensibly on the weekend and went back to it for the 5 weekdays of the next week. I went from 167.5 to 162, so lost 5.5lbs but bounced back to 164.5 when I started eating 3 meals per day again. My body fat dropped though so that’s good!
I’m managing 1lb a week now on a sensible diet so as a kick start I’m pretty pleased!
I have been working out five days a week and eating about 1000 calories a day. Im 247lbs and this isnt working. Ive been doing this with my sister in law and shes lost 15lbs in two months and I have lost about 4 oz. Shes taking supplaments to cleanse her body, boost her metabolism etc and yet tells me to keep thinking oz.instead of lbs. Will this actually work? Whats a good plan for long term?
I would never track by oz.
Hey Samantha, this isn’t really healthy, you’ll gain more once you lose your weight.
Have you had your levels checked? Including hormones? I have tried to lose weight so many ways and my doctor suggested I look into WLS–the vertical sleeve. I did it 5.5 months ago and I have like 90 lbs post operation. I actually stumbled across this article due to researching proteins…..I have PCOS (poly-cystic ovary syndrome) and at my heaviest I was 350 give or take a few lbs…..I have lost 145 lbs. I was able to lose 50 before surgery over the span of a year, working out 7 days a week, 2 a days at least 5 days and eating mainly chicken and vegetables (granted if I had not had PCOS the reality of losing on my own/without surgery would have been doable–still challenging but because of my PCOS it was very difficult for me to lose weight and keep it off–I would lose then gain 2x’s as much.)
I am in no way suggesting surgery to you–I don’t feel that’s appropriate to do to anyone as I was 350 lbs and very sensitive about my weight BECAUSE I was actively trying to lose since I was 17 (I am 25 now)….surgery definitely isn’t for everyone and body, in my case it was the only option and last resort.
However, I do, DEFINITELY suggest getting your levels/hormones checked by your primary doctor if you haven’t done so! =) If something is even slightly off it can make a HUGE impact on weight loss!!
I wouldn’t think in oz. but that is just my personal opinion.
Good luck on your journey!
Well i was reading the comments and then i see someone named ali posted something made me interested to the fact your arab speaking.
yes very true information but as i was reading your comment i must give credit you had a will and without a will you cant do anything so at the end you did it.
Hey man, I’m currently in the U.S Army and in need of cutting some extra fat off of my body. I’m 18 years old 6ft 210 lbs and some what muscular. I run about 3 miles a day and lift weights as well. Should I continue this schedule while on the 800 calorie diet or should I stop running and just lift?