The Method Weight loss
How fast should you lose weight?
About 0.5 to 1% of your body weight a week. The leaner you get, the slower it should go.
StrongGood evidence, with a caveat worth knowing.
Updated . The Vanguard coaching team.
What most people miss
Most targets are written in kilos. The better unit is a share of your own weight, because the same kilo is a much bigger cut for a 60 kg person than a 120 kg one. The recommendation drawn from the evidence is about 0.5 to 1% of body weight a week.1
The reason is what the loss is made of. The less fat you carry, and the bigger the deficit, the larger the share of any loss that comes from lean tissue.2 So the pace that suits the first months of a diet is too fast for the last ones.
It shows in trials. Elite athletes losing 0.7% a week gained lean mass. At 1.0% a week they lost a little, and their bench press rose less than half as much.3
Two honest limits. The 0.5 to 1% figure is a recommendation built from research on lean, trained people, not a trial of its own.1 And on semaglutide or tirzepatide the deficit gets easier to hold, which is the point of them, and exactly why four medical and nutrition societies pair them with lifting and enough protein.4
The research
The papers behind the answer
Each one checked against the paper itself. The grade describes the strength of the evidence, never anyone's results.
Helms, Aragon, Fitschen, 2014 · J Int Soc Sports Nutr
Evidence-based recommendations · natural bodybuilders
Lose about 0.5 to 1% of body weight a week to keep the most muscle. A recommendation drawn from the evidence, not a trial of its own.
Read the paper by Helms, Aragon, Fitschen, 2014 (opens in a new tab)Forbes, 2000 · Ann N Y Acad Sci
Review
The less fat you start with, the larger the share of any loss that comes from lean tissue. A bigger deficit raises that share too.
Read the paper by Forbes, 2000 (opens in a new tab)Garthe, Raastad, Refsnes et al., 2011 · Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab
Randomised trial · n = 24 elite athletes · lifting 4 times a week
Both groups lost about 5.5% of body weight. Losing 0.7% a week, the slow group gained 2.1% lean mass; losing 1.0% a week, the fast group lost 0.2%. Bench press rose 13.6% against 6.4%.
Read the paper by Garthe, Raastad, Refsnes et al., 2011 (opens in a new tab)Mozaffarian, Agarwal, Aggarwal et al., 2025 · Am J Clin Nutr
Joint advisory · four medical and nutrition societies
Covers GLP-1 drugs and their combinations. Strength training at least three times a week alongside the drug, with enough protein. Protein without the lifting is likely not enough.
Read the paper by Mozaffarian, Agarwal, Aggarwal et al., 2025 (opens in a new tab)
Research describes groups of people. Your coach will tell you how it applies to you.
From the floor
We never put a number of kilos or a date on a body. Personal calorie and meal targets belong to the registered dietitian, who works in the same building.
The Vanguard coaching team