How much weight can you lose in a month?
Key Takeaways
Losing weight too quickly can lead to health problems like hair loss, infertility, and mood swings.
When weight loss is too rapid, it’s also less likely to be sustainable over the long term.
Very rapid weight loss is mainly due to “water weight,” which is almost certain to be regained later.
The maximum safe weight loss is about 1 kg per week, or about 4 to 5 kg per month.
After a weight loss journey, weight regain is unfortunately common, but there are steps you can take to help avoid this.
Having the support of a health coach can help you to achieve safe and sustainable weight loss and to maintain this over the long term.
How much weight should you aim to lose in a month?
When a person starts a weight loss journey, they’re often interested in losing weight as fast as possible. Although it’s great to be motivated, it’s important to know that there are limits to healthy weight loss. In fact, losing weight too quickly can be associated with a number of health risks.
When a person is losing weight, they’ll do so by achieving a calorie deficit. This means taking in fewer calories than their body needs, so that the body dips into its stores of fat to make up the difference. The maximum safe calorie deficit is about 500 to 750 calories per day.
One kg of fat tissue contains approximately 7000 calories. If you maintain a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day, then this will lead to weight loss of about 0.5 kg per week. In general, a target of about 0.5 to 1 kg per week is considered a safe and healthy weight loss target. Using this target, you could safely lose up to about 4 to 5 kg per month.
Losing weight at a healthy rate is important for maintaining your health, and is also more likely to lead to long-term success with your weight loss goals.
Importance of losing weight the healthy way
There are a few different reasons why it’s important to lose weight at a healthy rate, rather than trying to push yourself to lose weight faster.
Health effects of rapid weight loss
With a moderate calorie deficit, the body can make up the difference by using its energy reserves, such as fat tissue. However, when the calorie deficit is too large, the body may not be able to make up the difference. There won’t be enough energy to complete critical maintenance tasks. This can lead to symptoms like:
Hair loss
Infertility
Mood swings
Constipation
Feeling cold all the time
If you start to experience symptoms like these, then your current calorie deficit may be too large. Consider increasing your food intake just a bit to address the problem. When you’re in a healthy calorie deficit, you should be losing weight but should not be experiencing symptoms like these.
Losing weight sustainably
Another reason to aim for weight loss of about 1 kg per week is to help keep your weight loss sustainable.
People who lose weight very rapidly generally do so by following an extreme diet and/or exercise plan. Usually, this is something that’s very difficult to do, and most people don’t stick with these extreme plans over the long term. Even though you may be able to lose weight quickly by doing this, it’s very likely that you’ll gain the weight back later, because you won’t be able to maintain the extreme lifestyle changes that led to the weight loss.
In fact, there have been studies showing that people who lose weight more slowly actually have a higher metabolic rate than those who lose weight more quickly. This means that they burn more calories at rest, which should make weight loss easier to maintain over the long term. In addition, the slow weight loss group actually lost more fat tissue than the fast weight loss group, which meant that they had a healthier body composition overall after their weight loss journey was complete.
Rapid loss of “water weight”
In addition to being challenging to maintain, very rapid weight loss often consists largely of “water weight.” Your liver and muscles store glucose in the form of a starch called glycogen. When you enter a calorie deficit and your body needs extra energy, it will break down the glycogen to use the glucose it contains. Glycogen is very good at holding water – in fact, each gram of glycogen holds about three grams of water along with it. When you break down glycogen, this water will also be lost.
This results in a very rapid weight loss, but it’s deceptive, since it doesn’t consist of fat tissue (the type of weight you want to be losing). Once your body rebuilds its glycogen stores, that water weight will come right back, with no change in your body composition.
When people tell you that they lost 10 or 15 kg in a single week, it’s virtually certain that most of this was water weight. This is not an achievable amount of fat tissue to lose in one week, even if you ate absolutely nothing at all.
Using weight loss medications
In order to help achieve a calorie deficit, weight loss medications are helpful for some people. The most effective are a class of medications known as GLP-1 RAs. Several of these medications are specifically approved for promoting weight loss in Singapore.
GLP-1 RAs work by mimicking a natural hormone in your body known as GLP-1. This slows down the emptying of the stomach so that you feel full for longer, and also acts in the brain to reduce hunger and cravings. Ultimately, the medication is a way to help you eat less, so it’s easier to achieve a calorie deficit without having to constantly battle hunger.
The target of about 0.5 to 1 kg per week of weight loss is not different for people on a GLP-1 RA. These medications are a helpful way for some people to achieve a calorie deficit, but the guidelines for safe and healthy weight loss are still the same for people taking these medications.
How to avoid having your weight return
Unfortunately, some people who successfully go through a weight loss journey later find themselves regaining some – or even all – of the weight that they lost. Research has found that people who lose weight regain an average of 30 to 35% of it within one year, and within five years, about 50% of people will be back at their baseline weight.
Although regaining weight is common, it’s not inevitable. There are steps you can take to help yourself maintain your weight loss.
Follow a diet that reduces hunger. A diet that’s low in refined carbohydrates and high in protein has been shown to promote satiety, meaning that it helps to keep you feeling full. Eating food that’s high in fiber, which is found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, will also help to keep you from getting hungry.
Maintain your portion sizes. While on a weight loss journey, you reduced the amount that you ate. When you’ve achieved your goal weight, it’s often tempting to stop keeping track of your food intake, since you’re no longer trying to lose weight. However, to maintain your weight loss, you’ll need to ensure that your food intake doesn’t start creeping back up. Try keeping a complete food diary for the last two weeks or so before your weight loss journey is complete, then doing this again periodically, such as for a few days once a month. Although your food intake will increase a little bit once you no longer need to maintain a calorie deficit, you’ll want to ensure that it doesn’t increase too much.
Get enough exercise. Exercise is crucial for your overall health as well as for maintaining weight loss. In one study on people who had achieved significant weight loss, those who exercised for at least 150 minutes (two and a half hours) each week regained less than half the amount of weight that was regained by those who exercised less. This is equivalent to about 20 minutes of activity per day. The benefits increased with a little more exercise, up to about an hour a day.
Get enough sleep. Many people think of diet and exercise as the crucial lifestyle factors in maintaining weight loss, but may not consider sleep. However, studies have shown that people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight. Sleep helps the body balance the levels of hormones related to hunger, and also ensures that you have enough energy to make healthy choices throughout the day. Prioritize getting about eight hours of sleep every night.
Monitor your weight. It’s important to track your weight regularly. Many people benefit from weighing themselves daily while they’re losing weight. You can continue daily weigh-ins if this has become part of your routine, or you can shift to once or twice a week once you’re in your maintenance phase. This lets you know whether your lifestyle plan for maintaining your new healthy weight is working. If your weight starts to creep back up, you can make changes to your food intake or exercise to prevent significant weight regain.
Having a holistic approach to losing weight for a healthier lifestyle
While it can be tempting to try to lose weight as quickly as possible, it’s better to aim for a maximum of about 1 kg per week. This is safer for your body, and is also more sustainable over the long term.
To achieve this amount of weight loss, you’ll need to adjust your food intake as well as your physical activity. Creating a diet and exercise plan that puts you into the right amount of caloric deficit and also works with your lifestyle can be challenging for many people – and sticking to the plan can be even harder. Having support and accountability through this process can be very helpful in achieving a new healthy body weight.
Health coaches specialize in providing this type of support.
Our NOVI Optimum Plus clients meet with physicians as well as health coaches throughout their weight loss journeys, to ensure they’re staying healthy as well as staying on track with their goals. With GLP-1 RA medication included in the program, you can expect to lose 15% of your body weight over 52 weeks. In addition, our custom NOVI Health app allows clients to receive extra support or ask for advice anytime they need it.