Losing 7 Pounds in 7 Days: What You Need to Know, According to Experts

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Experts share safe ways to achieve rapid weight loss

Co-authored by Francisco Gomez

Last Updated: October 2, 2025 Fact Checked

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• Can you lose 7 pounds in 7 days?
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• How fast can you lose 7 pounds?
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• Expert Tips for Fast Weight Loss
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• Keeping the Weight Off
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• The Bottom Line
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• Expert Q&A

|Show more |Show less

If you’re starting a weight loss journey, you’re likely impatient to get the ball rolling and start losing weight quickly. You may even be wondering if it's possible to lose 7 pounds in one week, or a pound a day. But is this type of weight loss safe, and if so, is it sustainable? If you’re looking for the answers to these questions, you’re in the right place. We’ve consulted doctors and weight loss experts for their best tips on shedding pounds quickly and safely (and keeping them off). Keep reading for everything you need to know!

Is it possible to lose 7 pounds in a week?

NASM certified personal trainer Laura Flinn explains that 1-2 pounds per week is a healthy rate of weight loss. 7 pounds is much higher than the recommended amount, so experts consider this to be an unsafe and unsustainable goal. However, there are a few tips you can follow to lose weight quickly and safely, including:

• Eat 500-1,000 fewer calories per day.
• Stick to low-calorie whole foods (veggies, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins).
• Avoid processed foods and fast food.
• Avoid fad diets or crash diets.
• Try to get 30 minutes of exercise per day.
• Work on changing your habits overall to build a healthy lifestyle in the long term.

Steps

Section 1 of 5:

Can you lose 7 pounds in 7 days?

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1. It may technically be possible, but it’s not recommended. According to most experts, a safe rate of weight loss is about 1-2 pounds (0.5-1 kg) per week. Since 7 pounds in one week is a significantly higher number, it’s generally not recommended. This type of extremely rapid weight loss likely isn’t sustainable, either. According to certified strength and conditioning specialist Adam Shuty, you can’t lose anything substantial in just a few days—the only thing you’d be doing is cutting some water weight (which is easily regained).

   • With that being said, people who have more excess weight may be able to shed pounds faster than others. “For example, if someone has 50 pounds to lose, they will lose weight faster than someone who has a few pounds to lose,” explains Flinn.
   • If you’re working with a doctor to manage an obesity-related health condition, they may recommend a very low-calorie diet (VLCD), which involves eating fewer than 800 calories per day. A VLCD can result in faster weight loss, but it is not safe to try this on your own. This type of diet should only be attempted if your doctor recommends it, and it must be done under their supervision, since it isn’t always safe.

   Meet the wikiHow Experts

   Pouya Shafipour, MD, MS is a board-certified family medicine specialist, primary care physician, and weight loss specialist.

   Adrienne Youdim, MD is a board-certified internist with over 15 years of experience specializing in medical weight loss and nutrition.

   Jennifer Lease, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and trained chef with 9 years of experience in the food and nutrition fields.

   Laura Flinn is a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) certified personal trainer, USA Olympic Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach, and certified fitness nutritionist.

   Tara Coleman is a clinical nutritionist with over 15 years of experience who specializes in sports nutrition and body confidence.
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Section 2 of 5:

How fast can you safely lose 7 pounds?

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1. 1
   You can safely lose 7 pounds in about 3 ½ weeks. If you aim to lose about 2 pounds (1 kg) per week, which is the fastest safe rate of weight loss according to experts, you can lose 7 pounds in about 3 ½ weeks. This would require eating about 1,000 fewer calories than your maintenance number (which we’ll go over in more depth below). Although this requires a bit more patience, it’s also a healthier and more sustainable goal. “Fast weight loss is tempting, but it can keep you cycling off diets,” says clinical nutritionist Tara Coleman.

   • In other words, when we try an extreme weight loss plan, “At first, we’re excited, but then it becomes overwhelming, and we actually quit,” Coleman says. “You wouldn’t go into a gym and try to lift the heaviest thing—you would start with smaller weights and work your way up. The same thing goes for food.”
   • “Remember that weight is a symptom of behaviors. So, if you focus on your eating behavior and make consistent changes, the weight will catch up quickly. I promise!” says Coleman.
   • There’s another benefit of gradual vs. rapid weight loss: less loose skin. “If you lose weight at a slower rate, you’re going to allow your skin to keep up with that weight loss,” explains certified personal trainer and nutritionist Pete Cerqua.
2. 2
   What if I really need to slim down, just for a few days? “Rapid weight loss is not something that is recommended or sustainable, but I also understand sometimes people have an event coming up and they want to lose some weight,” says certified personal trainer Christopher Carreiro. In this case, Carreiro recommends cutting down on carbs and sodium, while also eating foods that are natural diuretics (like asparagus and celery). All of this can help you shed water weight, which can give you the appearance of having lost several pounds in just a week.

   • Keep in mind, however, that this type of weight loss is temporary. According to Carreiro, losing something like 5-7 pounds in a week “is going to be more related to really manipulating water levels.” In other words, you’ll just be losing water weight, which you’ll quickly gain back once you return to your regular eating habits.
   • With this in mind, it’s probably best (and safest!) to follow agreed-upon recommendations and lose weight at a rate of 1-2 pounds pers week. We’ll go over expert tips on how to do this below!
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Section 3 of 5:

Expert Tips for Losing Weight Safely & Quickly

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1. 
   1
   Eat in a caloric deficit. To lose 2 pounds per week (the highest amount considered safe), you’ll need to eat 1000 fewer calories than your body would need to maintain its current weight. Start by multiplying your current weight by 15. This will give you the number of calories you’d need to eat to maintain your current weight if you live a moderately active lifestyle. Next, subtract 1000 calories from this number. This gives you your target number of calories to eat per day to meet your goal. Here’s an example:

   • Multiply your current weight by 15.
     • Say, for example, that your starting weight is 180 pounds.
     • 180 x 15 = 2700, so you’d need to eat 2700 calories per day to maintain your current weight.
   • Subtract 1,000 from that number.
     • 2,700-1,000 = 1,700 calories.
     • So, to lose about two pounds per week, you’d need to eat 1,700 or fewer calories per day.
   • Try to eat only this number of calories per day.
     • To make sure you’re staying in your caloric deficit, track the foods you’re eating and the amount of calories in each item.
     • Pay attention to portion sizes, and measure them out to ensure that you’re accurately calculating your calorie intake.
   • Note: This calculation assumers you’re getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day. If you want to calculate your target number of calories based on different activity levels, try using this helpful calculator from Mayo Clinic.
2. 
   2
   Increase your physical activity. It’s possible to lose weight just by changing your diet. However, exercise is a helpful tool for weight loss because it burns off extra calories, which helps keep you in your caloric deficit. Don’t worry, you don’t need to do anything too crazy—just 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per day is helpful. “I recommend starting an exercise regimen of 15-30 minutes of exercise daily to improve cardiac health. At the beginning of a weight loss program, I do not recommend intense exercise, which can make people hungry and discourage them from adhering to the diet,” explains board-certified family medicine specialist Pouya Shafipour, MD, MS.

   • You can get your daily cardio in by walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming—anything that gets your heartrate up!
3. 
   3
   Eat more whole foods, and cut back on fast food and processed foods. “I would recommend significantly reducing refined sugar, simple starches, fast food, fried food, and juices,” says Dr. Shafipour. “Focus on a diet high in vegetables and healthy sources of plant or animal-based protein and plant or animal-based fat.” Whole foods tend to be lower in calories and more satiating than ultra-processed or fast food, which helps you stay in your caloric deficit. This in turn helps you drop weight quickly. Here are some examples of low-calorie whole foods:

   • Non-starchy veggies: Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, zucchini, asparagus, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, kale, spinach, lettuce.
   • Fruits: Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, grapefruit, oranges, apples, watermelon, pears, peaches.
   • Whole grains: Brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut oatmeal, farro, bulgur wheat.
   • Proteins: Lean meats (poultry & fish), eggs, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu.
   • Fats (in moderation): Olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds, cheese.
   • Beverages: Water, unsweetened tea, or coffee.
   • Foods to avoid: Sweetened drinks (sodas, lemonade, juices), alcohol, fast food, heavily processed foods (packaged chips, crackers, cookies, cakes, sweets, chocolate, ice cream, etc).
4. 
   4
   Add more veggies to each meal to curb cravings. “Add more veggies to your plate to increase fiber intake,” recommends registered dietitian Jennifer Lease, RD, CDN. “Fiber makes meals more satisfying, keeping you fuller for longer and helping to prevent cravings and grazing later on.”
5. 5
   Practice mindfulness to avoid emotional eating. “A big consideration is being mindful of hunger versus other emotions,” explains board-certified internist Adrienne Youdim, MD. “People are flooded with lots of emotions—fear, sadness, loss, grief, boredom. These difficult emotions actually hijack our hunger hormones, believe it or not, so hunger does increase when we’re in a state of stress.” Being conscious of this can help you avoid emotional eating, which then helps you stay on track with your caloric deficit and weight-loss goals.

   • “I advise my patients to engage in mindfulness practices, to engage in journaling…things that will bring about awareness for what they are feeling [and help them] distinguish feeling bored or apathetic or anxious from true, physiological hunger,” says Dr. Youdim.
   • Consider keeping a food journal to write about your emotions, unpack your cravings, and keep track of what you’re eating during your weight loss journey.
   • Registered dietitian Amy Chow also encourages mindfulness for weight loss. “Practice mindful eating when you eat your meals and snacks; slow down and enjoy your food. Avoid eating mindlessly, and check in with yourself if you are actually hungry, or just bored, stressed, or procrastinating,” she says.
6. 6
   Focus on building healthier habits instead of trying fad diets to slim down quick. Although fad diets are popular, there are dangers associated with them, so Dr. Shafipour recommends “focusing on healthy eating habits and physical and mental health through exercise” instead. Unfortunately, there’s no magic trick for fast weight loss—the process is “complex and requires a comprehensive plan of a whole food diet, exercise, and healthy eating behaviors,” explains Dr. Shafipour.

   • Coleman agrees with this assessment: “I don’t think Atkins or Ketosis or things like that are sustainable and healthy long-term […] basically, it’s simulated starvation. Over time, our bodies don’t really like to be starved. You’ll usually feel some sort of retaliation from that. Sometimes that’s women starting to lose their hair, sometimes it’s binge eating—it can manifest in a lot of different ways.”
   • As a result, Coleman doesn’t recommend trying super restrictive diets (like Atkins or Keto), unless it’s a medical intervention specifically recommended by your doctor.
7. 7
   Visit your doctor to talk about weight loss medications or procedures. If you’re dealing with obesity-related health issues or you think your weight loss goals may be too tough to achieve on your own, schedule a visit with your doctor. They’ll be able to help you come up with a safe weight loss plan and recommend any medical interventions that might be necessary. These could include:

   • Weight loss medications such as semaglutide, tirzepatide, liraglutide, or orlistat.
   • Procedures like gastric bypass surgery (this is typically only recommended for people who have serious health complications as a result of their weight).
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Section 4 of 5:

How to Maintain Weight Loss

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1. Once you hit your goal, stick to your diet 75% of the time and keep exercising. According to Dr. Shafipour, this means sticking to your healthy, whole food diet 75% of the time and allowing room for “some reward foods, such as dessert and starch and alcohol” about 25% of the time. “30-60 minutes of exercise daily at least 5 days per week also significantly helps with weight maintenance and cardiac health,” he says.

Section 5 of 5:

The Bottom Line

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1. If you’re starting a weight loss journey on your own, losing 7 pounds in one week is generally considered an unsafe and unsustainable goal. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, it’s best to lose about 1-2 pounds (0.5-1 kg), instead. To do this, you’ll need to eat in a caloric deficit, exercise regularly, and work on building healthier habits overall (such as eating fast food and processed foods only in moderation, avoiding emotional eating, etc).

   • Remember, be patient with yourself. Healthy weight loss takes time, but if you’re consistent and stick with it, you will see results!
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Expert Q&A

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• Question

  Can you lose weight without exercise?

  

  Francisco Gomez
  Fitness Coach

  Francisco Gomez is the Head Coach at the FIT Potato Gym, a training gym established in 2001 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Francisco is a former competitive runner who helps endurance athletes train for major marathons like the Boston Marathon. Francisco specializes in Injury Rehab, Flexibility, Marathon Training, and Senior Fitness. He has a B.S. in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology & Running.

  

  Francisco Gomez

  Fitness Coach

  Expert Answer

  If you want to lose weight without exercising, you need to cut 3500 total calories from your diet for every pound you want to lose. However, adding exercise to your routine will make losing weight easier. It will also mean you don't have to be as extreme in cutting back your calories.

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