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.
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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.


Is it important when to lift weights?
I read a few times its best to do before eating
Would it for example be good to workout a few hours after eating if you won’t eat for the next 12+ hours?
Timing for when you lift doesn’t matter.
I would like to lose 20 kgms
I like the masterbate parts. Do u shave
every morning.
Are there any pics to back up this approach?
If I lose 15 lbs that week using this method how much of it will be fat and how much will be water?
It’s typically more water. Exact ratio varies between people.
You may also want to mention that this plan should only be used by people of a certain BMI or higher. These results would be scary for someone like myself with an 18.5 BMI. Thanks for the article!
Yeah I’m working on a 2.0 version of this post. So much I need to upgrade.
Definitely don’t recommend this if you’re already super lean.
thanks for the advice. I was 120 pounds a few years ago and have gone up to 148. I’m 5’2 and now I’m trying to take the weight off . I’m struggling. Just started back again at the gym eating mostly protein and vegetables but sometimes I can be impatient and I want the scale to move fast
Hey- I already am on the lean side with a BMI of 19.5 (according to estimations I made on one of these calculation websites, so this may be slightly inaccurate). I’m a female, 5’10”, 137 pounds in my late 20’s.
In any case, I want to lose about 10 lbs, but then REGAIN 10-15 pounds of muscle. I want to build muscle and strength but I don’t want to gain additional weight. In essence, I want to stay around the same weight but have that fat really be muscle. I know, muscle weighs more than fat but it’s leaner, so really trying to find a happy medium and figure out my muscle building journey. Nevertheless, would it make sense for me to do this plan in order to jumpstart my muscle building goal? Are there any modifications you may suggest?
Thanks!
muscle doesn’t weigh more than fat. It’s denser and makes your body look differently but doesn’t weigh “more.”
Hi – Interesting article. Can I use 32g of whey 4x a day as a protein source to avoid lean muscle loss? That’s about 480 cals.
yup totally.
Thank you.
Can I use this method in conjunction with the 7 day lemon detox, which is no food at all, only the lemon detox drink? I guess I’m asking will the weight training help retain muscle, whilst the detox cleanses the system and with the two combined I lose weight and maintain muscle mass.
you can’t “cleanse” your body.
No don’t do the lemon detox.
hi I was wondering if it was safe for 14 year olds and if there’s no side affects
No do not do this if you’re 14.
Can i do 2 slim fast a day and incorporate that in or will this hurt the diet…they r 190 calories each
I’d aim for more protein.
If I drank one boost every other day would that be good? Or if not what food would be 800 calories? And should I do a lot of running or weights such as benchpress sit ups push ups and other such things?
haha I love this article!
I know you said to only eat one meal but could I possibly do this by eating only eggs and boneless skinless chicken breast a few times a day up to 800 calories?
Yes i would get some veggies in there too.
Hi,
I am hoping to get back into a steady routine of diet and exercise. What would you recommend I do after this one week plan? Do I go back to eating 1200 calories? And just incorporate cardio into my workout routine?
I recommended going back to 10-12x your bodyweight in pounds for calories.
You can do cardio if you want, but don’t overdo it.