It is not uncommon to see claims of losing 10 pounds a day or week, but there is a limit to how much you should be losing; so what is a healthy rate of weight loss?

A healthy rate is around 1-2lbs per week. In order to do this you would need to offset about 3500-7000 calories per week through exercise and by eating less calories than you need.

Bear in mind that the long term goals are just as important as short term. Changes you make today might be more beneficial to look at them over the duration of 6-12 months instead. For example, you most likely won’t notice too much if you consume 25 calories per day less than usual. However, over a year this would save over 9000 which is the equivalent of nearly 2 and a half pounds of weight lost. (You can save 25 calories sometimes just be changing a brand of food you eat, try comparing items the next time you go food shopping!).

You can easily cut down further on the number of calories you consume by replacing high fat foods with low fat ones instead such as fruit and vegetables. You can also add to the offset by getting active and doing some exercise during the week – there are many examples of both of these throughout this site. Also, it is important to understand food portions and the amount you should be having as far too many people over indulge without realising.

It is also worth remember that if you are trying to lose body fat and are bulking up on muscle mass then you may not lose weight as often since muscle weighs more than fat. It is important to make ssure you take body measurements and fat levels if possible.

To conclude, aim to lose 1-2lbs per week for a healthy rate of weight loss but remember to focus on longer term goals rather than just the current week.