This Is How Many Pounds You Should Lose in a Week to Keep the Weight Off For Good

It can be tempting to follow one of the many "lose weight quick" gimmicks on the market like soup cleanses, cutting out any and every carb known to man, drinking juices for 14 days, consuming lemon juice and cayenne pepper concoctions (yikes), and the list goes on and on. While you may notice the numbers on the scale flying away faster than a seagull that has stolen your favourite sandwich at the beach, the weight loss more than likely won't be permanent. This is because anytime you deprive yourself of calories you'll naturally lose weight, but if it's not done safely and at a rate that is sustainable, you'll more than likely gain that weight back.

I spoke with Pratik Patel, New York Giants director of performance nutrition and assistant strength and conditioning coach about how much weight you should lose a week in order to sustain that weight loss and this is what he had to say.

He told POPSUGAR, "If you can steadily lose anywhere from 0.5-2 pounds a week you can control [weight loss]." He went on to explain that you don't have to spend countless hours a day in the gym to lose the weight or follow any elaborate nutrition program and starve your body of the fuel it needs to perform. Simply keeping the calories you consume below the amount of calories you burn, along with proper nutrition and recovery, will help you achieve whatever your weight-loss goals may be!