How Much Body Fat Can You Lose in a Month?
When you try to eat better and increase your physical activity level with the goal of improving your health, you may be tempted to focus only on how many kilos you’re losing. A healthier approach, though, might be aiming to lose body fat. So, how much body fat can you lose in a month?
It depends on many factors, including your age, genetics, current BMI (body mass index), and weight loss approach. But most adults can safely lose roughly two to three percent of their body fat in a month.
Saying that, there are no official guidelines. A GP (general practitioner) or healthcare professional can let you know what’s safe for you.
Let’s discuss how much body fat percentage you can lose in a month, what affects body fat loss, the best way to approach it, why rapid weight loss may not be wise, and tips for sustainable weight loss.
How Much Body Fat Can You Lose in a Month With Diet and Exercise?
With a combination of reduced calorie intake and increased energy expenditure through cardio, resistance training exercises, and general movement, you might be able to lose two to three percent of your body fat in a month.
This will look different for everyone, though, and fat loss isn’t always linear.
What Affects How Quickly You Lose Weight?
How quickly you lose weight and how much body fat you can lose in a specific period depends on a few things, including your:
Workout intensity
Body composition
Metabolic rate
Here’s what to know.
Workout Intensity
The intensity of your physical activity (i.e. how hard your heart’s pumping and how much you’re sweating) can significantly impact how much body fat you lose.
A 2019 study had 117 healthy adult female volunteers eat in a calorie deficit and assigned them exercise programmes of varying intensity.
The researchers found that the women doing a moderate exercise routine lost about 10.6 percent body fat over six months — which comes out to about 1.8 percent a month.
Those in the intense exercise group lost an average of around 16 percent body fat over six months. This comes out to around 2.7 percent a month.
Body Composition
Another factor that may affect the speed of body fat loss and the amount of weight you lose is your body composition. This is your body fat percentage compared to your body’s fat-free mass, which consists of muscles, bones, organs, water, and connective tissue.
The leaner you are (meaning, the lower your current body fat percentage), the longer it may take to lose excess body fat.
When the amount of body fat you have at the start of your weight loss journey is greater, you might see more rapid weight loss and body fat loss early on. Those losses usually slow down as your body weight and body composition change.
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Metabolic Rate
How much body fat percentage you can lose in a month also depends on your metabolism (or metabolic rate). This is how efficiently your body uses calories and fat for energy.
People with a naturally slower metabolic rate use fewer calories than people with faster metabolisms. As a result, more calories get stored as fat instead of being used for energy.
While you can’t completely change your metabolism, you can help it along by increasing your muscle mass and exercising more often.
How Do You Track Body Fat Loss?
Weight loss can be measured easily by simply stepping on a scale. But tracking body fat loss can be a little more involved.
Body weight changes don’t necessarily align with changes in body fat composition. So, losing two percent of your body weight doesn’t mean you’ve lost two percent body fat.
The weight you lose likely includes some fat but may also include muscle and water weight.
Still, if you lose weight while regularly doing exercises that build muscle mass, a good portion of the weight you’re losing is probably body fat.
The Most Accurate Body Fat Measuring Tools
The most accurate body fat measuring tools are generally expensive and complex.
One option is a bioimpedance scale, also known as a “smart” scale. It looks like a typical bathroom scale but sends small, harmless electrical pulses through your feet (there are also models with hand pads) and throughout your body to estimate your body fat percentage.
Another method of measuring body fat is through hydrostatic (underwater) weighing. You sit in a chair or on a platform that submerges you completely underwater after you expel as much air from your lungs as possible. A device measures your body density quickly, and you’re lifted to the surface.
Getting this test done can cost hundreds of pounds, so it’s not a practical way to measure and track body fat loss. But don’t worry — you have other options.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Although it’s not a perfect gauge of body fat and overall fitness, body mass index is a fairly simple way to determine where you stand for body composition.
To find out your BMI, divide your weight in kilograms by your height in metres squared.
For example, let’s say you’re 1.6 metres tall and weigh 68 kilograms. You’d square your height (1.6 x 1.6 = 2.56). Next, you’d divide your weight in kilograms by that number (68 ÷ 2.56 = 26.6).
Not a fan of maths? No problem. Just use the NHS (National Health Service) BMI calculator.
To understand the significance of your BMI, you can see what weight category your number places you in:
Underweight: 18.4 or below
Healthy weight: 18.5 to 24.9
Overweight: 25 to 29.9
Obesity: 30 or more
It’s important to understand the limitations of BMI as an accurate indicator of body fat percentage, much less overall health. It doesn’t distinguish between body fat and lean muscle weight.
A 2017 study found that adults who have the same BMI as one another could have very different body fat percentages. Not surprisingly, among people with identical BMIs, those who were more physically active had a lower percentage of body fat.
What’s more, having a BMI in the “healthy” range doesn’t guarantee your body composition is ideal — you could still have a higher percentage of body fat and not much muscle mass.
Waist Circumference
Taking specific body measurements, particularly your waist circumference, can also give you a good idea of whether you’re carrying excess belly fat.
To get an accurate measurement, wrap a soft measuring tape around the midpoint between the top of your hips and the bottom of your ribcage — usually just above your belly button.
According to the NHS, men with a waist circumference of 94 centimetres or more and women with a waist circumference of 80 centimetres or more are more likely to develop obesity-related health issues.
Waist-to-Height Ratio
Waist-to-height ratio is another body measurement to assess excess belly fat — and, by extension, excess body fat.
Here’s how to get your waist-to-height ratio:
Take a tape measure and measure your waist in centimetres or inches.
Measure your height in centimetres or inches (using the same unit of measurement).
Divide your waist measurement by your height.
For example, if your waist circumference is 97 centimetres and you’re 170 centimetres tall, you’d divide 97 by 170 to get 0.57. This is your waist-to-height ratio.
The smaller the difference between your measurements, the higher the ratio.
According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), a waist-to-height ratio above 0.5 suggests you may have an increased risk of health problems. NICE recommends keeping your waist size less than half of your height.
Callipers
Callipers are tong-like devices that gently clamp onto skin folds. They consist of two “jaws” and a movable scale that measures the thickness of skin folds.
You can measure body fat at different sites, including on your:
Waist, just to one side of the belly button
Chest, about one-third of the way down from the armpit to the nipple
Thigh, about halfway between the kneecap and hipbone
Arm, at the back, where your tricep is
Callipers are cost-effective — usually up to £10 or so — but they’re not as accurate as other methods of measuring body fat.
Another downside to using a calliper is that it typically requires another person to take your measurements because you need to stand upright in a neutral position.
Why Body Fat Loss May Be Better Than General Weight Loss
By emphasising weight loss only, you run the risk of muscle loss. You need lean muscle mass to carry out everyday activities, as well as fight off disease, infection, and even stress.
There are two types of body fat:
Subcutaneous fat. This is the kind you can pinch between your fingers. Subcutaneous fat tends to accumulate around the hips, butt, and thighs.
Visceral fat. You also have visceral fat, which collects around your abdominal organs and forms what’s called “belly fat” or “central obesity.”
Losing subcutaneous body fat in a healthy way can support sustainable weight loss and prevent future weight gain. Reducing visceral fat would lead to a smaller waist circumference while lowering your risk of heart disease and other medical issues.
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Who Shouldn’t Try to Lose Body Fat?
If you’re pregnant, put off efforts to lose weight unless your GP advises you otherwise. The same is true for those going through cancer treatment and people who are malnourished or considered underweight.
Body fat is usually presented as a percentage of overall body mass. There are no official U.K. guidelines for body fat percentage. Some experts suggest these groups:
Overweight. Body fat percentage of 25 for men and 36 for women
Obesity. Body fat percentage of 30 for men and 42 for women
If you’re unsure whether you should actively try to lose weight or reduce your body fat percentage, check with your GP.
How to Safely Lose Body Fat
If losing weight or losing body fat is the goal, it’s best to do so gradually. This is the safest way to lose weight and makes it more likely you’ll maintain your weight.
The NHS recommends aiming to lose 0.5 to 1 kilograms (or one to two pounds) per week.
Here’s what you can do to safely lose weight and body fat:
Commit to overall, long-term wellness
Take stock of your habits and lifestyle
Set realistic goals
Exercise regularly
Focus on nutrition
Get enough sleep
Manage stress
Keep scrolling for specific tips and insight into how to cut body fat percentage safely.
1. Commit to Overall, Long-Term Wellness
You may have many reasons you want to lose body fat, ranging from simply feeling better in your body to improving your health and lowering your risks of diabetes, heart disease, and other weight-related conditions.
To make your commitment real, write down your reasons and keep that list in a place you’ll see it often.
2. Take Stock of Your Habits and Lifestyle
Assess your current physical activity level, sleep habits, work schedule, and other critical parts of your lifestyle. You might see multiple areas where you could make improvements.
Snacking late at night? Training only once in a while? Getting only six hours of sleep a night? Changing some of these habits will help you on your weight loss journey and your efforts to lose fat and keep it off.
Even small changes can make a difference. A 2020 study suggested that spending less time sitting or lying down and more time standing and walking is associated with improvements in body fat levels.
3. Set Realistic Goals
Besides aiming for two or three percent of body fat loss per month (or whatever you set as your goal), identify other objectives.
This could be weight loss, long-term weight management, or activities you want to have the energy and strength to do in the future. Maybe you want to run in a 5K race, chase after your kids, or lower your cholesterol.
Your goals should be realistic and attainable, but it’s alright to be ambitious — you have time!
A 2023 study followed more than 36,000 people on a weight loss programme. It found that setting higher weight loss goals and being motivated by health and fitness were associated with greater weight loss and a lower risk of withdrawing from the programme.
4. Exercise Regularly
If you’re wondering how to get rid of body fat (or at least reduce your percentage), engaging in regular heart-pumping cardiovascular exercise and strength-training workouts can help.
One type of exercise proven to burn fat is high-intensity interval training (HIIT). A 2023 study showed that HIIT is a particularly effective way to lose body fat, especially when the aerobic portion includes over-ground running (running outdoors), as opposed to cycling or treadmill running.
However, if cycling or running on a treadmill works for you, you can still lose body fat that way.
HIIT and other fat-burning workouts also emphasise exercises that build muscle. Without resistance training (such as lifting weights), the kilos you lose with just aerobic exercise could deplete your muscle mass, which you don’t want.
If it’s in your budget, consider working with a personal trainer or signing up for group fitness classes for motivation, guidance, and accountability.
Beyond structured training sessions, try increasing the amount of general movement you do during the day, like standing and walking.
5. Focus on Nutrition
Exercise alone may not be enough to reach your body fat loss goals. A healthy eating plan, such as the Mediterranean diet, may be helpful.
It emphasises eating:
Nutrient-rich vegetables and fruit
Legumes, such as beans, peas, and lentils
Healthy fats, like olive oil, avocado, and nuts
High-protein foods, such as lean meats, fish, and eggs
Complex carbohydrates instead of simple carbs (think brown rice, quinoa, and other wholemeal foods)
Meanwhile, the Mediterranean diet limits added sugars, foods with saturated fats, and ultra-processed foods high in calories but low in nutritional value.
You don’t need to follow a specific diet, but keeping these nutrition principles in mind can help.
It might also help to look at the NHS Eatwell Guide or work with a dietitian for assistance with meal planning and portion control.
6. Get Enough Sleep
Getting enough sleep is also key to losing body fat. How so? Getting too little sleep can increase stress and hunger hormones, making it hard to keep up with healthy eating habits.
Aim for seven to nine hours a night. You can do this by:
Going to bed and waking up at similar times each day
Unwinding before bed by reading a book, listening to a podcast, or doing breathing exercises
Making sure your bedroom is cool, dark, quiet, and comfortable
For those who struggle to fall asleep, it might help to get up and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy, then get back into bed — instead of lying in bed fretting that you can’t doze off.
7. Manage Stress
Stress management is another underappreciated component of effective and lasting body fat loss. Chronic stress increases the production of the stress hormone cortisol, and high levels of cortisol signal to the body to hold onto excess body fat.
Stress-management techniques include:
Journaling
Meditation
Physical activity
Spending time in nature
Connecting with loved ones
Reach out for support from friends and family, a therapist, or mental health charities like Mind, if needed.
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How Much Body Fat Can You Lose in a Month? In Summary
If you have obesity or overweight, losing body fat could help improve your overall health.
How much body fat can you lose in a month? A goal of losing two to three percent body fat in a month is reasonable for sustainable weight loss.
Here are a few final thoughts to consider about losing body fat:
Training is a big part of it. To lose weight and body fat, aim to get regular aerobic activity, which could be any heart-pumping exercise like swimming, jogging, or increasing your daily step count. Add in resistance training to build lean muscle mass.
Food matters too. To improve your eating habits, you may want to work with a dietitian for help with healthy food choices and meal planning. Or talk with your GP about weight loss medication to help with appetite control.
Measuring body fat can be hairy. You can track your progress in a few ways, including calculating your BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio. Other, more expensive (and complex) approaches are also available.
You’ll know when your health is improving. Even if you can’t easily check how much body fat you’re losing, you may notice the difference in other ways. You might start feeling stronger in your workouts, notice improvements in your mood and sleep, and, over time, see key health metrics like your blood pressure or cholesterol improve.
If weight loss medicine is something you’re considering as part of your plan, you can explore options available through Hers UK.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice. Always talk to your GP about the risks and benefits of any treatment.