How Many Pounds Can or Should you Lose In a Week?

Ever see an ad that promises to make you lose 30lbs in a month?

Is this possible? Yes. Is this healthy? For most people No. Most people would have to be on unbalanced or unhealthy diets to achieve this. These diets will result in the loss of muscle mass, nutritional deficiencies and metabolic problems. These are undesirable outcomes.

How quickly an individual can lose the weight in a healthy manner depends more or less on 5 criteria. It depends on 1- your metabolism, 2- your hormonal profile, 3- the number of calories consumed vs expended 4- your physical limitations or ability to do certain types of exercise and finally 5- how quickly you are able to align your dietary habits with your physiological needs and how much time you are willing and able to invest in your health.

This information allows a nutritionist to estimate how quickly someone will be able to achieve their goal.

The recommended rate of weight loss is usually between 1lb to 2lbs a week. Because weight loss can vary considerably from week to week, the average is often based on results over a period of a month.

In practice, weight loss without muscle loss can be observed between 0.5lbs to 3lbs per week depending on each individual’s profile...(click for more)