How much weight can you lose, safely?

Dear Tony,

That depends so much on the individual: your height, weight, age, current diet, and whether or not you are on a supervised program (like the pre-packaged meals, where you can lose 5 or 6 pounds a week, or "the biggest loser" where you can apparently lose 10 or 12!).. But the canned answer is, about 2 pounds a week for men who are overweight.

The slower it comes off, the more likely it is to stay off!

And the way to lose fat is to eat 500 fewer calories per day for each pound you want to lose (and/or exercise to burn off 500 calories each day for a week, which takes nearly an hour a day). For most people it would be hard to exercise for longer than that, or to cut more than that out of your diet and still be eating a healthy diet.