You want to get rid of body fat and wonder if and how to lose 1 kg per week? Then you are in the right place!
You should lose a maximum of 1 kg per week, advise nutrition experts and gurus. So this advice you hear quite often.
Whoever loses more weight endangers his health and will later gain more weight than he was able to lose. But is that really true?
Or is even more than 1 kg per week possible if you eat healthily and exercise? And is that possible without putting your health at risk?
What is it about the promises that many women's magazines make us believe? Is it all nonsense or can it actually be true?
I checked with our personal trainer Werner. As a sports and nutrition scientist, he knows the answers to all these questions. I interviewed him and wrote down all the answers for you here.
Table of contents
Do diet plans really help you lose weight?
Where does the recommendation to lose a maximum of 1 kg per week come from?
Werner says quite plainly: losing 1 kg per week is possible. And even beyond that, he sees no problems in principle.
In fact, this is even possible without harming your health. Because losing one kilogram in 7 days is not a maximum upper limit, but a recommendation.
Because the recommendation 1 kg in 1 week is easy to remember, it has quickly become ingrained in people's minds. Today, this rule is considered the benchmark for losing weight, and rightly so. It refers to a manageable period of time and offers a goal that can be achieved.
If you want to lose weight, you have to set very clear target goals. The best way to do this is to look at them over a period of 7 days.
Whether you can lose 1 kg per week or even more depends on many different factors. Your starting position is crucial. Heavily overweight people have a starting advantage here. Because the more body fat you have, the more you can lose at the beginning.
That's why the participants of the show "The Biggest Looser" easily manage 2-3 kg per week.
Anyone who has always wondered where the body fat disappears while losing weight, who should stop by here.
As Weekly target define Nutritionists about 1 % of the total weight.. If you have 80 kg, then 0.8 kg of body fat loss per week is realistic. If, on the other hand, you have 150 kg, then you can also manage 1.5 kg.
What you should also know: The more you weigh as an unathletic person, the more calories you consume.
Small example of two girlfriends who move the same amount:
- Lena is 1.70 m tall and weighs 60 kg. She consumes 2140 calories a day.
- Marie is also 1.70 m tall and weighs 85 kg. She consumes 2630 calories per day.
What do body fat and muscle building have to do with each other?
If you are just starting to deal with the topic of losing weight, then most people are only concerned with the fact that the scale shows less. But that is complete nonsense.
I'd like to come back to The Biggest Looser in a moment. I remember an episode where a man named Thomas did a lot of sports - but not endurance sports, but muscle building. You could see the process really well on his face.
But when the candidates got on the scales, he was eliminated. He even had more kilograms than a week before. What had happened there?
Well, Thomas has built up muscles. And they are heavier than body fat.
That's why you need to know one thing: Body weight does not equal body fat.
Body fat is much lighter than muscle. That's why the scale showed more for Thomas, even though he lost body fat.
In other words, when you build muscle, your body becomes defined and toned. And you get heavier.
For this to work, you need to know your body fat to lean mass ratio.
Especially the ketogenic diet or very extreme low carb diet ensures that you lose a lot of weight within a few days. How does it work? This is mostly water, which was previously bound to carbohydrates.
How can I lose more than 1 kg per week?
As a rough formula, you consume about 1 calorie per kilogram of body weight per hour. So if you have 60 kg, then your body consumes about 60 calories per hour if you sit very still and do not move. For every step and every movement, of course, calories are added.
1 kg of body fat contains about 7000 calories. So if you consume 1000 calories more than you eat every day, you can lose 1 kg per week.
So it is possible. But it's a rocky road. You can lose more than 1 kg of body fat a week if you are very disciplined.
However, not everyone succeeds. If your starting weight is only 60 kg, then you have worse chances than someone who weighs 100 kg. But overall, you are of course a lot closer to your goal of a slim figure.
In the beginning, you make rapid progress in losing weight. The slimmer you become and are, the slower you lose weight. So in the first few weeks it may well be that you lose a little more than 1 kg per week. After about 4 weeks it settles down for most, they are then about 1 kilogram in 7 days.
If you want to lose weight fast, you have to
- be very strict about your diet. There are no cheat days or unhealthy food - not even in exceptional cases.
- create a very high calorie consumption per day. That means a lot of exercise and sports every day. You don't have to work out every day, but at least walk a very big lap every day.
Observe the calorie deficit
If you want to lose weight, you know that calories play a crucial role. You can only lose weight with a calorie deficit. Only when we consume more calories than we take in, the body starts to gain the missing energy from the fat reserves.
What you absolutely need to know: If the calorie deficit is too large in the long term, regardless of whether it's through more exercise and/or eating less, your body will shut down your metabolism, Werner reveals.
Optimal is for him a Calorie deficit from 500 to 700 Calories per day.
Small example
As a woman, you have an average calorie consumption of 1,900 calories per day. If you want to lose 1.5 kg per week, you need to create a daily calorie deficit of 1,500 calories.
If you want to regulate this exclusively through nutrition, you should not eat more than 400 calories per day. The kilos would fall quickly as long as you only eat 400 calories per day.
This is very dangerous and unhealthy! Keep your hands off it at all costs!
The problem: You often get ravenous appetite and true binge eating. You eat massive amounts of calories uncontrollably. At the same time, with a diet that allows so few calories, you are missing important nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.
You also break down a lot of muscle because your body is trying to get energy from it.
It's not fun, nor does it get you where you want to go.
This is the influence a selenium deficiency has on weight gain!
Tip: A diet plan
Your calorie deficit must therefore become just the right size. However, this is hardly possible for most people in addition to their job and everyday life.
Thereby our We Go Fit Nutrition Plan support. After all, we know from our own experience that it is often very difficult to eat right.
Especially when it comes to recipes, you can quickly reach the limits of your creativity. That's why it's worth making a cooking plan. It's best to plan what you're going to eat for a week in advance.
A conscious diet will not only bring you closer to your dream figure. You will also change mentally. If you eat healthy, you'll be in a better mood and have more power.
So that you can succeed, you can take part in our We Go Fit Program Create your personal nutrition plan. You choose the category "Lose weight" from four plans.
We calculate your calorie consumption, calorie deficit and create a diet plan that fits your needs and that fits you 100 %. It's very easy. Give it a try :)
Click here to put together your personal nutrition plan!
Can you lose more weight if you work out sober?
Where the problem lies with a crash diet
Especially in spring we are overwhelmed by offers. Women's magazines, journals, advertisements - all want to help you lose 5 kg in 7 days or 10 kg in 5 days and the like.
Extreme diets are neither healthy nor do they work in practice.
The problem with this:
- You lose muscle and your basal metabolic rate drops even further
- Cravings are on the agenda and haunt you all day long
- You will feel the yoyo effect with full force
- Your metabolism shuts down to a minimum
- Your mood will be in the basement
Sport or diet: which is better for losing weight?
One hardly works without the other.
The important thing is that you have to start thinking in the long term. It's not about losing 3 kg in 3 weeks and then having a total of 8 kg more body fat in 5 weeks out of frustration. But that you tighten your body in the long term.
And that works best with a healthy diet and exercise.
The healthy alternative to crash diets and constant hunger is a healthy mix of diet and exercise. Because when you exercise, you also get to eat more calories. And so automatically more nutrients and a strong cardiovascular system.
Sport for weight loss
Building muscle is better than any crash diet. Because muscles are like power plants. They consume a lot of energy in the form of calories, even at rest.
They ensure that your basal metabolic rate is increased. This is the amount of energy you need so that all processes in the body can run as usual.
When you build muscle, the body fat gives way step by step. You can lose 1 kg per week by building muscle. You won't see this on the scale, but you will notice it in the circumference of your thighs and stomach.
When you exercise, you burn calories during and long after exercise. Overall, your body consumes more energy even during rest periods.
As a beginner, you start with bodyweight exercises like squats, lunges and pushups. Later, the exercises are made heavier with weights and other tools and already the muscles are growing. But you don't have to be afraid of becoming a muscle mountain, that's very hard for us women. That's where hormones throw a spanner in the works.
Endurance sports should not be neglected either. This can range from walking, running, swimming to cycling. Pick something you like!
Diet for weight loss
As tempting as cookies, cakes and the like are, if you want to lose weight, these foods are off limits from now on. Why? Well, they provide a lot of calories, but hardly any usable nutrients for the body.
Nutrition makes up 70 % of your weight loss plan. That's why it's so important that you pull yourself together. If you want to lose 1 kg per week, you absolutely have to rethink your eating habits. The excess kilos didn't just land on your hips overnight. You put on weight because you ate more calories than your body needs.
Now it's all about working on your body accessing fat stores with a calorie deficit.
What this means for you:
- Eat healthy, balanced
- Add long satiating foods such as whole grains to the menu
- Prefer foods rich in protein and reduce carbohydrates overall
- Eliminate bad carbohydrates (sugar, white flour)
- Prefer good carbohydrates (legumes, whole grains, etc.)
- Lots of vegetables and lots of low calorie foods,
- drink a lot of water and teas,
- make sure you have enough nutrients
- no fast food, no ready meals
Low carb is not a magic bullet. You can lose weight just as well with low carb as with high carb. The important thing is that you stick to the calorie deficit.
Your weight is stagnating? This is the reason!
This is what you need to know if you want to lose 1 kg per week
You've changed your diet, you're careful not to take in too many calories and you exercise a lot? Great! Now you're just missing something so that the kilos really fall and you can lose 1 kg a week. And that's the right attitude.
Only when you have the right attitude are you ready to adjust your behaviors, which is hugely important if you want to lose weight sustainably.
- Don't put yourself under pressure! It's perfectly normal to have a slump. Both weight and motivation can stand still for a while. You have to keep in mind that the way to your desired goal is like a marathon and not a sprint. If you have a low point, look at what you've already accomplished. Treat your body well, you only have one.
- Set achievable goals. If you set goals from the beginning that are impossible to achieve, then you won't achieve them. Disappointment, frustration eating and bad mood are the result. Revise your goals on occasion and make sure that they are suitable for everyday life. For example, if you plan to exercise for two hours every day, you will quickly realize that this is not compatible with your daily routine. Start slowly. How about 2 times a week for 30 to 40 minutes to start with? And then really follow through.
- Think about why you want to lose weight. Those who have a concrete goal in mind are spurred on and rewarded with motivation. For some, the goal is to fit back into their old jeans, others want to run a marathon, and still others want to take the stairs without being out of breath. What is your motivation?
- Avoid stress and lack of sleep. Studies show that we are more prone to obesity when we sleep little and poorly. Lack of sleep upsets the hormonal balance, we are more hungry and of course have more time to eat when we don't sleep. Stress makes us reach for very fatty and sugary foods more often.
- Watch your eating habits. The first step is to find out why you eat too much. Often stress, frustration or boredom are behind it. Try to break out of this vicious circle. One thing that worked well for me: whenever I felt like I had to eat something on the weekends, I got dressed and went for a walk around the block. Distracting myself works great!
Our conclusion
Losing 1 kg per week is possible and easily achievable if you change your diet and incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Rethink your habits and don't get discouraged if it's less than 1 kilo. You should think long-term and lose weight in a healthy way. And that takes a little longer, but the result remains long-term and the yoyo effect has no chance.
All the best for you!
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