What Is The Healthiest Amount Of Weight You Can Lose In A Week?

American spend $33 billion on weight-loss products and programs, reports the "American Journal of Preventative Medicine," yet confusion about safe and healthy weight loss abounds. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you might be surprised to learn that going slowly has some significant advantages.

Expert Recommendations

In a world where ads for "miracle" weight-loss products bombard us every time we turn on the TV, it's easy to get confused about what a safe, healthy weight-loss rate is. The American Council on Exercise recommends aiming for 1 to 2 lbs. a week, a recommendation confirmed by the Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia, a service of the National Institute of Health. If you try to lose weight faster, you could set yourself up for problems.

Yo-Yo Dieting

Yo-yo dieting is a common term for losing weight quickly only to gain it back just as quickly. You can avoid this frustrating phenomenon by avoiding fad diets that promise quick weight loss; these diets usually are not based on solid science and often require you to make drastic lifestyle changes you can't sustain long term, according to nutritionist Andrea Wenger Hess of the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Avoiding Starvation Mode

Another problem with losing weight too quickly, especially if you do it by drastically reducing your caloric intake, is "starvation mode." MayoClinic.com says this happens when your body, in response to reduced food, slows down your metabolism to prevent you from dying of starvation. When your metabolism slows, you don't burn as many calories and your weight loss might slow down or stop altogether.

Protecting Your Money

Weight-loss programs that promise more than 1 to 2 lbs. a week aren't just bad for your health: They also can be bad for your wallet. In fact, the Federal Communications Commission considers promises of weight loss exceeding 2 lbs. per week a "red flag," a warning about a rip-off waiting to happen. Instead of shelling out big bucks for programs that sound -- and therefore probably are -- too good to be true, aim for a safe, slow and sustainable weight-loss rate. You'll be healthier, happier and more likely to keep the weight off.