Updated on July 10th, 2023 at 04:58 pm
We all want to lose weight and achieve our weight goals fast. As such, you’re looking for the best diet to follow. But while at it, you can’t help but wonder, how much weight can one lose in a month?
Several factors determine how much weight you’ll lose in a month. But generally, if a person follows a healthy diet & exercise routines to maintain a calorie deficit, they can expect to lose 8 to 10 pounds or 35 to 4.5 kgs monthly.
In this guide, we will venture into the factors surrounding body weight loss in a month like
- How weight loss works
- Different diet options
- The do’s & don’ts
Let’s dive into the options available and how much weight you can lose with each diet option.
How weight loss works
Before we dive into how much weight you can lose in a month on different diets & exercises. Let’s first understand how weight loss works.
Weight loss and weight gain work with the simple concept of calorie intake & outtake of the body. If your calorie intake is lower than your calorie burn, you will lose weight, but if you consume more calories than you burn, you’ll gain weight.
For a healthy person to lose around 1 pound of fat, their calorie outtake should be around 3500 calories more. This means a decrease of 500 calorie intake from your diet. If you increase it to 1000 calories, you’ll lose 8 to 10 pounds monthly. Now you might think you should heavily reduce the calories you consume and burn more; this would provide the best result, won’t it?
Well, technically, yes, because if the food you consume doesn’t meet your body’s calorie demands, it will be provided by burning the fat inside the body. But if excessive fat is burned, you will face adverse effects, multiple health issues, and damage to your mental health and vital organs.
For this reason, a healthy dietary & exercise plan is often utilized to ensure proper and healthy weight loss.
Dietary options you can use to lose weight in a month
There are multiple ways one can approach losing weight in a month. The most common approaches are:
- Keto diets
- Intermittent fasting
- No Food Approach
How much weight can you lose in a month on keto?
Health experts say you can lose between 10 and 12 pounds in your first month. Since adopting a keto diet can take some time, so you must stick with the diet for your body to switch from glucose to fat burning.
The ketogenic diet revolves around taking low carbohydrate & high fat intake to create ketosis. This metabolic state replaces the need for glucose as an energy source inside the body.
As a result, the blood sugar level decreases significantly, creating a calorie deficit that fuels weight loss. The ketone levels may vary from one individual to another. Remember that long-term weight loss through the keto diet requires patience and calculating every gram of glycogen you put in your body.
In keto, a person takes less than 50 grams of carbohydrates, sometimes 20 grams daily. You should keep your fat intake between 70 and 80%, carbohydrates between 5 and 10 percent and proteins between 10 and 20 percent.
When you stick to a structured keto diet, you can lose 1 to 3 pounds per week. This translates to losing around 4 to 12 and sometimes even 15 pounds monthly.
Note: Everyone’s body is different, so the weight loss rate will vary. While the figures shared above are true, your numbers may vary depending on your:
- Health situation
- Body composition
- Daily habits
- Fat adaptation period
How much weight can you lose in a month with Intermittent Fasting?
If your Intermittent Fasting puts you at a calorie deficit of about 500 calories daily, you can expect to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. If you keep it up, you’ll lose 5 to 10 pounds monthly.
Intermittent fasting revolves around taking food in specific periods of the day. While there are a few variations of this diet, the most popular and effective is the 16/8 diet.
In the 16/8 intermittent fasting diet, you fast for 16 hours (with no breaks) and only eat within the remaining 8 hours. If you want to take it up a notch, you can exclude sleeping in the 16 hours and put it in the 8 hours schedule.
Apart from 16/8 fasting, the 5:2 approach is also quite effective. You usually eat for 5 days of the week and follow an extreme diet for the other 2 days. The calorie intake for these 2 days should equal or lower than 500 calories.
How much weight can you lose in a month without eating?
If you starve for a week, you can expect to lose about 4 pounds. This can translate to a 16-pound loss if you keep it up for a month.
That said, this is the worst approach one can take when it comes to losing fat in a short time. But if your doctor recommends it, you’re good to go.
If you don’t eat for a prolonged period, you will encounter extreme health consequences like dehydration, malnutrition, low metabolic rate, and even organ failure. Your metabolism will also decrease significantly, which will have a negative effect. So instead of losing weight, your muscles will shrink.
Moreover, if you continue to starve yourself, you will soon go on an eating spree, where you will most likely eat more than you would’ve eaten during starvation.
How much weight can you safely lose in a month?
The healthy and safe amount of weight to lose in a month depends on several factors, including your health, current weight, gender, and body composition. However, losing 1 to 2 pounds weekly (4 to 8 pounds monthly) is safe and achievable.
However, if you have a higher starting weight, you can lose more in the first few weeks of your weight loss journey. Rapid weight loss isn’t sustainable and can lead to negative health consequences. As such, you should approach weight loss in a healthy and sustainable way by following a balanced diet, engaging in regular physical activity, and getting enough rest and recovery.
What you should do and avoid if you want to lose weight in a month
Here are a few things that you should keep in mind when planning to lose weight optimally in a month:
Bring a small yet effective change
You can’t just wake up one day and start eating low-calorie foods. You can, but crash dieting only leads to strict eating for a few days and then overeating afterward.
Instead, make slight changes to your food habits, set weight loss goals, and stick with them. Also, determine what foods you crave that are also good for your health, and if there are some that you don’t like, slowly building up an appetite for them can help you in the long run.
Don’t look for immediate change
Weight loss can’t be realized in a few days. So, never hope to notice immediate changes in your body fat as you start your diet. Remember that you are in this for the long term and stick to a plan no matter what. Only then will you find success in your weight loss journey.
Control calories, not food quantity
A big mistake people make is counting the number of foods they have in their diet instead of calories. You can eat as much as you want if the calorie count doesn’t increase.
So, pick nutritious food that is low on calories and fits your taste. This way, you can stick to the diet plan for longer.
Don’t fall for fad diets
For sustainable weight loss, it is always better to stick with your planned diet instead of the current popular low-carb diet you’ve seen on social media. If you maintain your caloric intake, maintain a good fat percentage & eat healthy food, you will see positive results gradually.
No sugar water
Carbonated drinks with sugar are one of the biggest enemies of weight loss. You should also get rid of any artificial sugar components from your diet as well. So, avoid them at all costs. You can go for tea or coffee to counter the craving for drinks. Healthy juices are also a good option.
Don’t forget to exercise
While physical activities aren’t a must and following a diet will help you lose weight, you will find a better result if you also incorporate a few weight loss exercises, intensive physical activities & cardio activities.
Also, doing strength training & raising your activity level will help you fight heart disease, improve muscle mass & body composition, reduce blood pressure, and raise your overall energy levels.
Final thoughts
Understanding how much weight you can lose in a month means understanding the dietary plans and exercises you will follow. Remember that extreme diets will only lead to disasters, so make a safe & healthy plan and follow that for a month; you will be able to lose weight significantly. Best of luck!