How Much Weight Can I Lose in 7 Weeks?

“But they promised me you could lose 20 pounds in two weeks,” she says. “I was really banking on that, the wedding is soon and I wanted to fit into that one dress I was telling you about.”

“Who are the ‘they’ that promised you this?” I ask.

“Well,” she starts, “I’m not sure. It was something my sister did a few years ago.”

“How much weight did your sister drop?” I question. “And how long as she kept it off?”

“I don’t know how much she dropped exactly, but it was a lot.” she says. “She’s gained all her weight back, plus more.”

“So,” I say, “how long do we have to get as close as possible?”

This is from a real conversation with a great client. Though she’s a unique individual, the scenario is quite common.

You need to lose some weight fast, so you rely on some quick fix found on the front page of a fitness magazine you see in the check out line. An initial sniff test leads you to believe everything is on the up and up. Some of the protocols seem drastic, but nothing you can’t handle for a couple months.

After a few weeks you’re hungry like you’ve never been before. No matter how close you are from your last meal, this hunger never seems to go away. By the force of your will you make it to your goal, give or take a couple pounds.

Close enough, you reason.

The moment you eat like a normal person, however, you just keep eating like a garbage disposal. This eating bleeds over into a couple day bender. 

You end up back at where you started. In some cases, worse off than before.

What you’re about to read is the amount of weight you can lose in seven weeks that will set you up for your biggest success. 

Let’s get to work!

How to Lose Weight Without Starving Yourself 

You can starve yourself and you will lose weight. But, how do expect to sustain that for the longterm? 

This is going to sound counterintuitive, but starving yourself in order to lose weight will cause you to gain weight over time. 

This short blog post is here to help you understand how much weight you can lose in 7 weeks without gaining it back. 

For more resources regarding the mechanics of losing weight, check out more blogs here.

How Much Weight Can I Lose in One Week? 

It depends.

Which week of your weight loss program are you considering?

When was the last time you restricted calories?

How much do eat on a daily basis?

Do you exercise regularly? If so, how often?

These questions can go on and on.

As you can see, there are many variables that contribute to how much weight you can lose in a week’s time.

Generally, the more you eat and less active you are, the quicker you’ll lose weight initially. Depending on your situation, you could lose five to ten pounds within the first week of your weight loss program. This is also considering you’re going about it in a controlled, professional manner like we do at Cornerstone Weight Loss.

Much of that initial, rapid weight loss has a great deal to do with sodium and water. Once these get balanced, however, you will see how much weight you’re losing accurately on a weekly basis. 

Though the CDC recommends 1 to 2 pounds of weight loss per week, it seems best to be more conservative than that.

In order to provide the best set up for longterm weight loss success, it is recommended that you lose 1 to 1.5 pounds per week after the initial, rapid weight loss phase is over.

Some Simple Math for Seven Weeks 

Before we get to how much weight you can lose in seven weeks, here’s some philosophy for you.

This is not going to be what you want to hear. You may even think that your needs aren’t being considered. 

If you only have a short amount of time to lose weight, you should have planned ahead and not have found yourself in that situation.

But, if you are, it seems best to lose the maximum amount of weight you can within the bounds of 1 to 1.5 pounds per week. 

Therefore, in seven weeks you can safely lose 7 to 10.5 pounds.

“Well, I have seven weeks,” she says. “How much can I lose?”

“Probably not the amount you’re looking for,” I reply, “but it will get you well in the direction you want to go. Best of all, you’ll be set up to lose more weight after your special date. By the time another special event comes up, you won’t even need to get ready.”