Find the date you reach a target weight.
Projecting an arrival date is division — weight to change divided by weekly rate — with one correction that makes the difference between a useful date and a demoralising one. Real progress is not linear. Water retention, glycogen swings, salt, menstrual cycles, training load and metabolic adaptation all produce weeks where the scale does not move, and any projection built on a perfect rate arrives too early and feels like failure. Adding a ten to twenty percent allowance produces a date you can actually plan a wedding or a weigh-in around. The arrival date is then counted forward from today, so the answer changes as time passes — which is the point of a target date rather than a duration.
Projected date from rate of change
Change needed = |current - target|; ideal weeks = change / weekly rate; projected weeks = ideal weeks x (1 + allowance / 100); date = today + projected weeks x 7 days
A projection based on a constant assumed rate, not a prediction or medical advice. Actual progress varies with adherence, metabolic adaptation, medication and health conditions. Consult a doctor or registered dietitian before pursuing a specific target weight, particularly a large change.
Because nobody loses or gains at a constant rate. Stalled weeks from water retention, glycogen and adaptation are normal, and a projection without padding sets a date you will miss — which is a common reason people abandon a plan that was working.
Because it is counted forward from today. That is deliberate: a target date should tell you when you arrive from where you are now, not restate a duration you calculated weeks ago.
For loss, roughly 0.5-1% of body weight per week — around 0.5-0.9 kg for an 88 kg person. For gain, 0.25-0.5 kg per week. Faster is possible but costs lean mass in either direction.