Healthy Weight Loss Pace
The pace most guidelines support is about 0.5 to 1 kg, or 1 to 2 lb, a week, which needs a deficit of roughly 500 to 1,000 kcal a day. Losing 5 to 10 percent of body weight across 6 months is the target many clinicians use because it moves blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. This is general information, not medical advice, and anyone who is pregnant, under 18, or living with diabetes or another health condition should set a plan with a doctor or dietitian.
Why 0.5 to 1 kg is the target
At 0.5 kg a week, a 90 kg adult reaches a 10 percent loss of 9 kg in about 18 weeks. Going faster usually means a deficit above 1,000 kcal a day, which raises hunger, shortens sleep and burns through muscle, and that combination rarely survives past 4 to 6 weeks.
Faster loss raises gallstone risk too. Studies report 5 to 25 percent of people on very low calorie diets developing gallstones within 8 to 24 weeks, against roughly 1 percent a year in the general population.
A 6 month window also leaves room for 2 or 3 weeks at maintenance without losing the overall trend, which is what makes the pace repeatable.
Building the deficit
Start from your maintenance estimate and cut 500 kcal a day for about 0.5 kg a week, or 250 kcal for 0.25 kg if a slower pace suits you better. Splitting the cut between food and movement is easier to keep: 250 kcal off the plate plus a 40-minute brisk walk for a 70 kg adult.
Hold protein at 1.6 g per kg and fibre at 25 to 35 g a day. Both raise fullness, and the higher protein protects lean mass, which slows the fall in maintenance that arrives with every kilogram lost.
- Estimate maintenance - Mifflin-St Jeor resting rate multiplied by an activity factor of 1.2 to 1.55.
- Cut 250 to 500 kcal - From that figure, and never below 1,200 for women or 1,500 for men without medical supervision.
- Set protein at 1.6 g per kg - An 80 kg adult needs 128 g, spread across 4 servings of roughly 32 g.
- Add 2 to 3 strength sessions - 20 to 40 minutes each, 10 to 20 sets a week, to hold muscle through the deficit.
What fast loss costs
Lose 3 kg in a week on a crash diet and much of it is water and glycogen rather than fat, so it returns with the first normal meals. Rates above 1 kg a week often come with 20 to 30 percent of the total loss coming from muscle, which drags resting metabolism down by 50 to 100 kcal a day.
Nutrient gaps follow the calorie cut. Iron, calcium and vitamin D intake often falls short of recommendations below 1,200 kcal a day, and menstrual cycles can stop when energy availability stays too low for too long.
Markers beyond the scale
Track the waist to the nearest 0.5 cm, resting heart rate, blood pressure if you own a cuff, and a strength benchmark such as push-ups or goblet squat load each month. Losing 5 percent of body weight commonly drops blood pressure by around 5 mmHg and improves fasting glucose.
Sleep 7 to 9 hours and keep training loads steady. In a 2022 trial, adults in a calorie deficit who slept 5 hours lost less fat and more muscle than those sleeping 8 hours, with the same food intake.
Waist circumference is the cheapest marker of the set: a 3 cm drop at the belly button usually tracks 2 to 4 kg of fat loss in adults.
Holding the loss
Maintenance needs a plan of its own. After a 10 kg loss, daily burn sits 100 to 200 kcal lower than before, so add 50 to 100 kcal a week once you reach target, keep protein high, and hold steps between 8,000 and 10,000 while watching the 7-day average.
Weigh weekly rather than daily in maintenance and respond to a 2 kg rise over 4 weeks, because that is the point where small habit changes still reverse it.
If eating rules become rigid, if you skip social meals to control intake, or if you feel out of control around food, talk it through with a professional. Disordered eating is a real risk during weight loss, and this page is general information rather than medical advice. In the US you can call or text 988, in Australia the Butterfly Foundation helpline is 1800 33 4673, and in the UK Beat runs 0808 801 0677.