What’s An Appropriate Rate of Fat Loss

I think the most common question I get when someone is ready to enter into a fat loss phase is “how long is this going to take?” And I get why that’s a common question. You are finally in a good headspace where you are ready to make this commitment! But often I receive a lot of disappointment when I answer this question with a realistic response.

I’m not one to tell you what you want to hear to get you as a client, like many coaches often do. I prefer to set a realistic timeline based on several variables when I’m analyzing how long it’s truly going to take. And even then, it’s important to note that there may be other speed bumps that we encounter in the future, which of course is going to change this timeline.

So, let’s spend some time today going over a realistic rate of fat loss, as well as some variables that are worth considering when you are trying to get an idea of how long it is going to take to get there.

When we are trying to lose weight, an optimal rate of fat loss is approximately 0.5-1% of bodyweight per week to minimize muscle and strength loss. Now I am not the biggest fan of weekly targets, especially for women. And there are a few reasons for this. Let’s briefly discuss one of the biggest reasons why it’s not all that accurate for women to compare scale weight changes on a week-to-week basis. 

The main reason is due to our menstrual cycle. There are different phases of our cycle, where our bodies are at very different points hormonally within each phase.

Here is a brief explanation of these phases:

The follicular phase: The time between the first day of the period and ovulation. Estrogen rises as an egg prepares to be released

The proliferative phase: After the period, the uterine lining builds back up again.

Ovulation: The release of the egg from the ovary, mid-cycle. Estrogen peaks just beforehand, and then drops shortly afterwards

The luteal phase: The time between ovulation and before the start of menstruation, when the body prepares for a possible pregnancy. Progesterone is produced, peaks, and then drops

As our hormones change drastically between each phase, this will impact the scale, where comparing week to week changes is like comparing apples to oranges. So, we have to take a step back and remember that it’s more accurate for us to compare month to month changes when we are measuring weight loss.

So, I would still determine what your weekly rate of fat loss is and then simply multiply it by 4 so you can determine the rate of fat loss on an overall monthly basis. For example, if you weigh 200lbs, your rate of weekly fat loss would be 1-2lbs (that’s 200lbs x .5% and 1%). Then we would multiply that range by 4 to determine our monthly goal, which would be 4-8lbs. Understanding your monthly rate of fat loss allows you to ignore and accept those weeks where we don’t always see a linear drop on the scale. This is 100% normal and not worth losing sleep over, especially if you are being accurate with your program.

Now some people see the rate of fat loss percentage and often think that’s not enough. Remember that the scale measures more than just fat. It also takes into consideration the amount of muscle you have, protein, water and organ size. So just because the scale is going down, doesn’t mean that 100% of that drop can be contributed to just fat. It’s actually been shown that if the scale goes down TOO quickly, a lot of that is contributed to muscle loss. Which is the last thing we want. So, to mitigate this risk, it’s better to take a more conservative approach with the rate of fat loss so you can maintain muscle mass as well as your strength in the gym. Remember that less is sometimes more. 

Now let’s move forward and consider some variables when you are trying to come up with your timeline. Before we do that though, please note that you are in no way required to come up with a timeline. If you are ok with taking a slower approach and aren’t too concerned with how long it will take, then I would honestly just skip the rest of the episode. But for those who like to plan ahead and set expectations for themselves, then by all means, estimating a timeline is completely necessary.

Now please note, it’s not as simple as looking at your starting weight, then determining your target weight and seeing how many weeks it will take based off the rate of fat loss target we just determined above. For example, if you weigh 200lbs and you want to be 150lbs. We know our weekly rate of fat loss is 1-2lbs. Let’s use 1lb for convenience here. If you multiply 1lb by the amount you want to lose, which is 50lbs. That’s 50 weeks. However, that doesn’t mean your timeline is 50 weeks to achieve your target goal weight. It’s not that black and white. There are several other variables that we want to consider. It could take longer, or it could take less. But let’s look at some of these variables.

The most important variable to consider is where is your metabolism at. A lot of people, especially women, are in a state of constant chronic dieting. Often without even realizing it. We have been programmed to believe that we need to consume as little calories as possible in order to lose weight or even maintain our weight. So, we think that we need to eat like a bird and that’s considered healthy and doesn’t have an impact on our ability to lose weight when we are ready to hire a coach in the future.

What happens when you eat like a bird (aka little calories) for too long?

Really low calories create an energy gap, which activates the body's self defence system. This results in a lower metabolic rate, a drop in your thyroid hormone and a drop in your leptin levels. We have learned in previous episodes that these are normal negative adaptations that occur when we are dieting. But if your intention is not to diet right now, we have to understand that eating like a bird is not putting us in a desirable position to enter into a fat loss phase in the future. 

I actually just recently entered into my first fat loss phase in 5 years a month ago. I try to be as transparent as possible and document my journey on Instagram. And I had a question from someone the other day asking me how I can lose weight eating 2400 calories a day. And I told her it’s because I strategically spent 5 years not dieting and 5 years focusing on eating more food where over this time period, I was maintaining weight consuming 2800 calories a day. 

So many hear this and instantly think “oh that must be nice.” But not many are willing to strategically take themselves out of a dieting phase for a long period of time due to this false fear that eating more food is going to cause you to gain a bunch of weight and you are destined to starve yourself forever. I am really passionate about breaking this mentality and if you haven’t listened to episode 60 already of how you can accomplish the ability to eat more food, repair your hormones and not gain a bunch of weight, I highly recommend you check that episode out.

So, the reason why this is the most important variable is because depending on how much you are currently eating before you start your diet, that’s going to determine your starting calories to lose weight and depending on what that number is, it may slow down your rate of fat loss or force you to make a tough decision that your body is just not ready. Even though you may feel mentality ready, your body needs to be metabolically primed if you want to minimize the amount of suffering when you go to diet and maximize your results so you actually achieve your targeted rate of fat loss.

Now this starting point is going to look different for everyone. So only you can determine if it’s realistic for you to adhere to or not. For example, say you’ve been eating 1700 calories a day before you made the decision to diet. You’ve been maintaining weight eating this much food and are ready to start this journey. You may have to cut your calories by 200-400 in order to be in a calorie deficit to achieve your rate of fat loss goal. This drop would be down to 1300-1500 calories a day. To some people that is complete torture and to others that’s totally manageable. And this will depend on your age, occupation and activity level. But if you feel that it is manageable then be ok with making the decision to carry on with the fat loss phase. But if that is torture for you, then that’s a good indication that your body is not in the best place to enter into a dieting phase and taking some time to focus on building up your metabolic capacity by eating more food for a time period is necessary.

Take the time to ensure your body is truly ready to be in a calorie deficit, because if you feel you aren’t ready in the beginning, it’s just going to get worse from there because as you progress through a dieting phase, it just gets harder and harder physically and mentally. 

The next variable we want to consider is your social status. Are you the type of person who needs human connection multiple times during the week, where you are eating out and having drinks more than once? Or are you the type of person who sticks to themselves and doesn’t really focus or care to go and eat out?

The reason this is an important consideration is because going out, regardless of if the nutrition facts are available for the chosen restaurant, can slow down your results. I can guarantee that the chef isn’t weighing out your food like you do when you are the one prepping your meal. Just because the macros are available doesn’t make your meal accurate. The macros for a stir fry may call for 100g of basmati rice, but the chef isn’t weighing that. You may have 200g maybe even a 300g serving in front of you. I promise you when you step on the scale the next day, the increase is not just from the sodium. 

 Again, I am all about enjoying your life and having that balance. But if you are going to eat out, be sure you limit it when you are dieting if you are wanting to maximize your timeline. If that is not feasible for you and your lifestyle, there is nothing wrong with that. But you have to set those expectations for yourself that your timeline is likely going to be a little bit longer. 

The next consideration, which goes hand in hand with the previous one, is what time of year are you going to be dieting. I think it’s safe to say that anytime of year is tough so it does still come down to your life. For example, the summer months are filled with weekend getaways, endless social gatherings and vacations whenever you can. If that sounds familiar to you, is that really a good time of year to consider dieting? Is that realistic for your lifestyle? Maybe it is and you would prefer to diet during the summer months because your birthday is in the fall and you love thanksgiving and Christmas and don’t want to miss out on those occasions. 

There is never going to be a perfect time. But if you are wanting to maximize your timeline, take some time to understand which seasons mean more to you than others and which you can expect to have more social gatherings that you don’t want to miss out on when you are realistically trying to figure out what’s going to be best for you. 

And that last consideration is plateaus. Please note that plateaus are completely normally and look different for everybody. I have seen some clients need adjusted every 2-4 weeks due to a plateau and others where they didn’t need to make a change for over 16 weeks. There is no real way to anticipate this and therefore, there is not much you can do. It’s just important to understand that this will occur and set that expectation for yourself. 

So, with all of these variables considered, what is a more realistic timeline if we go back to our previous example where we want to lose 50lbs and that showcases 1lb on average a week. If we take the 50-week timeline that we determined, I think adding 10-20% on top of that is a realistic timeline for those who would like a general idea. I would apply 10% for those planning to be stricter with themselves during the process and then 20% for those who are planning to be a little bit more relaxed and want to eat out once a week for example. So that would be another 5 weeks if we needed 10% and another 10 weeks if we needed 20%

This is no way is an exact science. More so just a frame of reference for those who are looking for a general idea. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter how long it’s going to take if this change is something you truly you want. Typically, we will do anything for the things we want, no matter how long it takes. 

But hopefully this episode allowed to you be more realistic with your own timeline and go easy on yourself, so you aren’t getting discouraged if something is taking longer than what you expected it to. Because everything does. 

Hope this was helpful! 

Coach Krysten