Participants suggest 2 kg per week for around 8 weeks as a possible upper limit, though some note this equates to a large daily deficit that may not be short-term for most. Gallstone risk is cited above 1.5% body weight loss per week from studies, yet forum experience shows no such issues. Faster loss is feasible mainly for very obese individuals due to water weight and higher expenditure, but nearly all weight returns unless habits change permanently or GLP-1 drugs are continued.
What this discussion establishesWhether 2 kg per week qualifies as short-term or recoverable, and whether study warnings on gallstones apply in practice
Still openExact threshold where hormonal damage or regain becomes inevitable versus avoidable with care
Nothing here is advice.
I'd say something like 2 kilograms each week over a limited stretch, say eight weeks total.
Holding 2 kg or 4.4 lb a week across eight weeks does not count as short term for most, though very heavy people might drop that much water. It works out to about a 2000 calorie daily deficit if water is not part of it. What exactly counts as recoverable here?
I mean keeping hormones in balance and avoiding any regain afterward.
I took it as simply not dying. Without steroids a plain calorie deficit, even a big one, probably will not cause lasting damage unless malnutrition leads to scurvy, kidney failure or osteoporosis, and those can be dodged with proper supplements.
Research indicates gallstones begin to show up once weekly loss exceeds 1.5 percent of body weight.
I hear that claim often lately, yet checking around here it does not seem to match what people report. I have not come across anyone here dealing with stones, and that includes myself.
I have always read it as one percent per week being shown safe in studies while 1.5 percent has not.
Dropping actual fat that quickly would be tough unless someone starts very obese, eats little, and burns a lot. Early water loss from glycogen can account for 2 to 5 kg, so after subtracting that the remaining 11 kg over eight weeks comes to about 1.375 kg per week of fat or lean tissue, which is doable. I once lost 6 kg a month or 1.5 kg weekly from 145 kg on 1600 to 1800 calories a day before the rate slowed. Heavier people lose faster at the same intake because extra tissue raises daily burn. Speed of loss does not determine whether it stays off. Apart from GLP drugs, surgery, or the rare case of lasting lifestyle overhaul, almost everyone regains what they lost. GLP drugs keep the weight off only while you continue them.
Around 90 percent of dieters regain within five years, and the figure is similar for people stopping GLP-1 drugs within a year. That leaves two routes to staying lighter: continue a maintenance dose of the drug indefinitely or overhaul eating and activity habits for good. On speed, one percent of body weight weekly is usually seen as the top end for healthy loss, and several studies link faster rates to greater lean mass loss. Check the elite athletes study, the muscle atrophy study, and the rapid versus slow metabolic rate study.
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