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.


What meals would you recommend? Also, would I be able to eat at least 3 meals as long as I stay under 800 calories?
Lots of meat and veggies. They would be incredibly small meals to stay under 800.
Thanks for the article. Good information and you made me laugh my ass off.
Thank you
Hey! I was just wondering if the tea and coffee were included in the 800 calorie limit or if that limit is just for the foods that you eat?
with any added calories from sweeteners is fine.
I’m all over this. Quick question – would the weight come off towards the end or would you see some loss by say day 2?
prob some water loss by day 2.
I think im close here
This is Second week i cut out sugar completely except for some fruit to get over cravings
1 Multi grain crisp bread and 3 table spoon of egg white breakfast.
A apple or banana snack.
Lunch two pieces of Turkey wrapped in lettuce.
Apple banana snack
Dinner 4oz STEAK with a spoon of organic salsa , half a cup of black beans plain and lettuce.
Snack one rice cake.
That’s everyday for about a week and a half so far.
And a lot of walking and little jogging
I managed to count my calories for the day and it ended up being 723. I feel full and happy. Every 2 hours in the day I ate a piece of fruit– 2 bananas, 1 tangerine. I had 2 espressos with no sugar and light cream, just a tad, about 30 calories, and for dinner had basmati rice, a whole eggplant and a whole zucchini steamed happily together. (I’m a vegetarian) Now sipping on some Rooibos tea, no sugar, and feeling really full, actually. I found this article because I had just been very careful with my food today and wondered if I would get results if I continued. Thanks for confirming I can indeed carry on. I do kind of a lot of cardio every day because I live halfway up a mountain in the Caucasus. To be honest, I might just die if I try lifting weights, too. I usually walk about 4km per day.
I’ll be trying this out. Starting tomorrow actually. I do use muscletech platinum whey protein isolate and whey peptides. Has all the glutamine and amino acids I like. Can I still use this?
I would pick a different brand if possible, MT isn’t the best brand out there.
i am starting thisdiet today, using the fitnss pal to track my calories and will work out 2 to 3 times per day, to see what happens in 10 days. do i need to track carbs?
no need to track carbs down to the exact gram. Focus more on overall calories and protein.
With weights do I do leg day one day and upperbody the next or do entire workouts everyday? And can I do this diet for a week then a week or two do it again? Or only once?
a full body workout 3x per week will be good.
I know every person and every body is different from the other, but is it guaranteed for every type of body to loose weight if they follow this one week 800 calories diet? As usually I gain weight faster than loosing it, so will I still hope for loosing the 10 pounds in a week? thanks
Nothing is ever “guaranteed.”
But you will lose substantially more weight than the average diet.
I’ve got 7 days left in a weight loss competition…would it be ok to work out more than 3 days with weights? And would it benefit me to add arm/waist weights while doing my cardio (I’m become addicted to Turbo Jam) One last question, I bike as a primary source of transportation (18 miles round trip – you’d think I’d be as thin as a rail) – will biking affect my results in a negative way? Should I take public transportation for the next week and save my energy for the weight lifting? Thanks in advance for your time and input!
Hi, I have few questions: 1) Will weight lifting extra days help me lose more weight? 2) Would adding hand/waist weights to my current cardio workout count towards weight lifting? 3) I ride my bike a minimum of 90 miles a week; do you think this is helping or hindering my progress? 4) Finally, What would be the preferred method of eating vegetables for maximum; raw, steamed or roasted? Thank you for your time and advice!
1. No
2. No
3. God dammit, did you read the post.
4. Does not matter.
I do this and this is what I eat…
1/2 Grapefruit
1/2 cup of cottage cheese
2 5oz Cans of Tuna with a dash of lemon juice for flavor
2 hard boiled eggs
1 peice of dry toast
And Only drink water
You STAY hungry but it works
I lost 27lbs in 2 weeks
Do you space your meals out billie?
Im only drinking green tea throughout the day and a cup of soup in the afternoon so dont think im even having 800 calories, im finding it hard with exercise as ive got arthritis in my back and joints but im trying to walk around at home a lot any advice would be great.
Well thanks for the blog.. But im trying to lose weight.. Im eating less.. And also doing workouts and cardio.. I dont know why but its not working on me..
It’s too hard to say from just this comment. Maybe, you’re not eating as less as you think.