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.


This is my 3’rd day and i have lost 6 pounds so far and i feel so good. Today was my first day in the gym wich was totally great! Thank you for posting this great article:)
awesome, congrats.
So just a little background before my question –
– I’m competing with a group of co-workers to lose weight.
– Goal is 10% of body weight (to make the rules simple and easily measurable)
– I’m 6’0″
– I started at 230.2 on 2/1/13
– I weighed in at 206.2 3/15/13
– I’ve been doing Muay Thai & Brazilian Jiu Jitsu roughly 6 hrs/ week
– I’ve been eating Paleo (minus fruits and sugars to stay in Ketosis as much as possible)
– Competition ends next Friday
– My two main competitors in this have been inactive and using Metafast (needless to say I want to beat them)
– I was planning on continuing Paleo, continuing the MT/BJJ, limiting calories, throwing in cold showers, jump roping/ push-ups/ sti-ups in the mornings and hitting the sauna Thursday night.
So my plan entails more cardio than you lay out. I haven’t been specific in hitting certain calories so far. Thoughts?
Thanks,
I don’t understand…
My advice – I say avoid cardio since you’re running on so few calories. You’re not going to lose much more weight in a week if you add in more cardio.
is it possible to do this once a month? i only have one dumbbell and it is 10lbs. is that okay?
It’s possible, but I don’t recommend it.
So I understand everything, I’m on the 4th day myself and it’s working great. Thank you ! I’ve got a question about water weight though, how can I avoid gaining water weight in the first place?? Anything I should make sure not to eat too much of or?
You can’t really unless you avoid salt and carbs your entire life.
About how many cups of water should you drink during this week?
Totally up to you, although I would aim for more since water helps keep you full.
i get really bad migraines when i don’t eat for a long amount of time, and no amount of ibuprofen or water will help. do you think my body will acclimate to the hunger & subsequent migraines within a few days? they’re pretty paralyzing migraines (i get them normally, but not eating for a long period of time will make them much worse) so i’d really like to not have to deal with them all the time.
also, can you explain to me how all of the weight i lose in a week won’t just heap back on once i go back to normal dieting? i feel like i’ve heard that about every extreme diet, just hoping that if i try this one it won’t come back to bite me in the ass.
one more thing…i don’t have a gym membership, is there any low-energy exercise that i could supplement for weight training? i.e. yoga or something…or can i just decrease my cardio and still have similar effects?
thanks, this was very well written and though-provoking.
if you get really bad migraines when you don’t eat, then this diet might not be best for you. And like I said, you need to be very careful when this diet ends so you don’t go off on a binging spree, bump your calories back up to the point where you only lose approx 1 pound per week.
Ok so I’ll be starting this diet in the morning! Just one quick question.. I’ve heard that sometimes after an extreme diet you can gain all the weight you lost plus more right back. If I stick to a very healthy diet with more exercise the following weeks will this still happen?
Nope.
hi I’m actually on a diet right now called the champions diet, my friend forwarded me the attachment of the eating plan, and supposedly after 1 month you should see a weight loss of 44 to 60 pounds, I’ve been doing it for about a week now and I lost 7 pounds considering this morning I gained 1 pound, would you mind if I forward you the attachments, and if you could tell me if its pony or not. also I checked my blood glucose level right after eating and it read 67
sure send it over.
Should we drink the coffee with sugar and can you recommend a good workout
A little sugar is fine.
Im 18, 5’9, and weigh 145 pounds. I have a flabby belly, some back fat, and some huge thighs. The only exercise I did was at school for P.E. and that ended 2 years ago. My arms are pretty skinny. If I did this diet which parts of my body would be lossing fat. Would it be somewhat evenly distributed.
You have no control where you lose the fat. Over time your body will lose fat from all over.
Hi sorry for yet another question, seems like people don’t read super well and ask some dumb questions… hope mine isn’t one of them. I am a DI athlete and I have required cardio everyday, will it cause me to lose a lot of muscle if I follow your plan? Thank you and sorry to bother…
I don’t recommend this if you’re an athlete.
If you eat your 800 calories and workout and say burn 300 calories should you eat back those 300 calories or don’t eat them back ?
Don’t even think about the calories burned from exercise, just think of them as a bonus.
Also if the person isn’t retaining a lot of water on an arravage how much will they lose with this diet ?
I would think this plan has merit if used correctly. Like he said-no cardio-only muscle training to prevent the loss of muscle with extreme or starvation diets. I definitely agree this should not be done for more than a week. It seems the premise here is to get you to eat healthier with fruits and veggies and going to the gym. If you make these lifestyle changes, you can be successful! However, going from 800 calories to 3200 will have catastrophic results. You would most assuredly gain the weight right back. I am planning to try this as a jump start. I have had little success lately dieting, so maybe this is the kick I need!
Hey! I’m excited to try this! My Q is ;
Can I sit in the sauna for a good 20-30 min each day while doing this program? Also .. I realize certain foods fill you faster.. But can I eat anything I want as long as I keep it under 800? What if I want to eat a pop tart for breakfast and just suffer the rest of the day?:) haha
Ya sauna’s fine. And pop tart probably wouldn’t be the smartest idea since they are so calorie dense.