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.


I’m 5ft 8.5 210lbs. 29% body fat. How much body fat do you estimate that I’d lose doing this?
Hard to say exactly but I’m guessing a pretty good amount.
Ok thanks. I’m aiming overall to be 10% body fat in 6 months
Started this yesterday! Feeling a bit hungry but not too bad! Drinking lots of water which is helping! I guess it’s fine to add slices of lemon to water if it gets a bit boring?? Will let you know how I get on!!
Great good luck!
Eh how long should the workout be? How many reps to be effective. I’m currently 175cm 75kg. Guy.
I would say anywhere from 30-60 minutes depending on your overall intensity level, rest time, total sets, etc… There are so many factors to account for.
For reps, I would focus mainly on the lower rep range, 5-8 reps to maintain strength levels.
I’ve lost. 22 pounds in 1 week
Awesome!
Say what? What workout routine did you follow
A simple weight lifting routine will suffice. I like doing 3 fullbody workouts per week.
Started with this 2 days ago, except I cut it down to 500-600 cals. Feeling great. It’s exam time at university so it’s a great way to keep my mind off eating and into studying.
Great, be safe.
lost 4 pounds and was hungry, might do it for another week though
If I only had 800 calories a day and only drinking water and did not work out how much weight do you think I would lose in a week?
That’s a HORRIBLE idea. You would lose muscle and you would feel like crap.
I eat 800 cals a day but I can’t workout properly 2-3 times a week, I can only workout once a week and in that time I play basketball, I don’t have a gym in my city. Do you think I’ll lose anything?
Yes you will lose muscle, you should be weight training 3 times per week.
Hi I’ve been doing something similar to this, Was having 1000 cals a day but now I’m doing 800. Is it ok to do weight training and running on treadmill?
I would skip the treadmill and just lift.
Starting this diet tomorrow but would 300 sit ups a week be ok?
No, 2 reasons:
1) sit ups suck both for ab development and they are not good for your back.
2) You need to be training your other muscles too.
I lost 10 pounds doing this in 2 days except no calories. you really lose your appetite after that im not hungry and doing great. why stuff your fat face?
Some people experience the exact opposite and get extremely hungry.
I can’t go to a gym to work out because I have severe anxiety problems but I run three times a week with small weights strapped to my arms, will this work too?
Not sure what small weights strapped to your arm means, but you need to do a workout that hits all your body parts.
Well thank you for the info. Im a girl and im very active cleaning and cooking around the house i have 5 kids. I work out lightly because im already constantly moving around. Im 169 pounds do u think i could lose weight to on the 800 a day plan? I dont care for muscles i want to be skinny again.
I gave u wrong damn email man lol its [email protected] lol send me everything u got. I will let you know results too. Thanks for all your help bro.
Wait what am I supposed to send you?
1st day: Check!
Do you think I could do weight training all the 7 days? My body is used to train that much.
i wanted to write 6 days^^
I personally wouldn’t.
I just started this diet plan and all i eat is plain oatmeal with just a lil touch of cinnanom and sugar and im at 187 i need to be 170 by this upcoming saturday for my hydration test im a wrestler in highschool and i do cardio and i do atleast 2 hours or lifting and i also do a lot of Strong man workouts for example tire flips kettle bell workouts and stuff during my school weightroom time i goto wrestling practice and after that i goto the gym how much weight do you think ill loose or am i doing something wrong
Damn I need to update this article a bit with more guidelines and warnings. Don’t do this in high school especially if you’re an athlete.