Although it might be possible to lose 60 lb in six months, it may do more harm than good to fixate on a specific number like that, especially if you haven’t assessed your baseline body composition of muscle and fat, says Pooja Gidwani, MD, an internal medicine and obesity medicine physician with a private practice in Los Angeles.
That refers to how much muscle you have in your body compared with fat. Fat helps maintain an energy reserve in your body, while muscle helps your body burn energy in the form of calories. In general, men should have a body fat percentage between 14 and 24 percent, and women should have a percentage of 21 to 31 percent. (Your doctor can help you determine your body composition.) Any diet or exercise changes you make to lose weight should be based on this information.
“Without knowing your ratio of fat to lean mass [muscle], setting a goal like, ‘I want to lose 60 lb’ is shooting in the dark,” she says. “You could lose that much and still be metabolically unhealthy if a significant portion of the loss is water and muscle.”
Metabolic health refers to certain processes like blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar control. To reach a better metabolic state, it’s important to improve your body composition by decreasing total body fat percentage and preserving or building muscle, says Dr. Gidwani.
“That’s what drives improvements in insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular risk, and long-term weight stability,” says Gidwani. “Losing more than 1 to 1.5 pounds per week, especially without proper training, protein intake, or medical supervision, often means you’re losing more than just fat. That can lead to a slower metabolism, hormone imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, and ultimately, rebound weight gain.”
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