You can eat
- Vegetables as the main part of lunch and dinner: salad, tomato, cucumber, aubergine, courgette, broccoli, cabbages and mushrooms.
- Fruit: two or three portions a day, for dessert or between meals, bananas included.
- Skimmed dairy: milk, yoghurt and fresh cheese. For plant-based drinks, soya (an allergen) with at least 3% protein.
- Cereals, pulses and tubers: rice, pasta, couscous, bread, potatoes, lentils, chickpeas and beans, preferably wholegrain and in a fist-sized portion.
- Fish: white fish at least three times a week, and oily fish once or twice.
- Seafood: clams, cockles, squid, cuttlefish or prawns, in place of white fish.
- Eggs: three or four a week Meat: preferably poultry, chicken or turkey; for cold cuts, turkey or chicken breast, or cooked ham.
- Fat: olive oil, two or three tablespoons a day, preferably raw; sometimes avocado or nuts.
What to avoid
- Crash, sachet or single-food diets: they drop weight quickly and what is lost tends to come back.
- Removing an entire food group, and carbohydrates in particular: you tend to be hungry by night-time.
- Skipping a meal to make up for an excess.
- Exercising to make up for what you have eaten.
- Red meat: once a week, twice at most Fried and breaded foods: the same food with a lot more fat.
- Crisps and savoury snacks: eating for the sake of eating, and they do not fill you up.
- Alcohol: on a special occasion, no more than one glass of wine, with water alongside.
Changes that help
Snacking
Instead of crisps or savoury snacks mid-afternoon, have a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts, because they fill you up and savoury snacks do not.
Cooking
Instead of frying or breading, grill, bake, cook en papillote or stew with a little stock if it dries out, because it is the same dish with less fat.
Protein
Instead of red meat or fatty cold cuts, have fish, and in a sandwich turkey breast, chicken breast or cooked ham, because these are the leanest options.
Dinner
Instead of removing carbohydrates from dinner, have a small side of brown rice, potato or bread, because removing them usually ends in cravings for something sweet at night.
Habits that help
- Sleep seven to nine hours [1]; sleeping too little increases snacking and fatigue.
- Build up 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week [2]
- Climb stairs every day, two or three hundred between your home and the metro.
- Do strength work on two or more days a week [2]; twenty minutes at home doing squats with a bottle of water already count.
Ten kilos is the point at which a two-week quick fix is no longer enough. It takes several months of doing things differently. That is why almost everything that appears when you search for “lose 10 kilos” promises seven days. Seven days can be endured; four months need to be organised.
Can you lose 10 kilos in a week or a month?
Of fat, no. The scales can drop several kilos in seven days with a crash diet, a sachet diet or a single-food diet. But what is lost in those days is mostly water, and it returns as soon as you eat normally.
Also, part of what is lost is not fat. In people with overweight or obesity, between 20% and 30% of the weight lost is fat-free mass, according to a review of studies [3]. The same review notes that strength training during the plan cushions that muscle loss [3]. The faster and with less support it is done, the greater the muscle loss can be.
The diets that promise to slim you down in a few days change their name every year: the egg diet, the protein diet, the tuna diet, the Chinese diet. They all share three signs. They promise a timeframe, cut out a whole food group and do not say what happens the following month.
How long does it take to lose 10 kilos?
It is the question we get most in consultation. The answer is around four or five months, counting from the day you change something. The pace we work at is about half a kilo a week, around two kilos a month. If you weigh yourself, do it at most once a week so as not to become obsessed with weight. Measuring your waist and hips, or looking at a belt you wear regularly, can guide you better. There are two things worth knowing before you start.
- The first week brings a bigger drop. Two or three kilos is normal and almost all of it is water. After that the pace settles.
- The last kilos drop more slowly than the first. This is to be expected, and it does not mean you are doing it wrong.
If you have five to lose, the timeframe is half and the plan is the same. You have it in the guide to losing 5 kilos. If you do not have a number in mind and want to start eating better, start from the weight-loss diet guide. If it is more than ten, see the guide to losing 15 kilos; and with twenty, the one on losing 20 kilos, which starts with a medical assessment.
What do you eat to lose 10 kilos?
A bit of everything, in adjusted amounts. No food group is removed. The one that is adjusted most is cereal, which is the one that provides the most energy. At lunch and dinner, the plate has three pieces.
- Vegetables as the main course, raw or cooked. This is what fills you up.
- A protein food: fish, seafood, poultry, eggs or pulses.
- Cereals, pulses or tubers, the size of a fist. Preferably wholegrain, and smaller than you usually serve yourself.
Here is a full day, with approximate amounts. For breakfast, coffee with skimmed milk and two slices of toast with turkey. Mid-morning, two kiwis. For lunch, courgette soup, baked potato and griddled chicken, with a yoghurt. As an afternoon snack, a banana. And for dinner, green salad, a small side of brown rice and salmon en papillote.
If breakfast is what keeps repeating for you, there are nine breakfast ideas for weight loss.
What does a weekly menu to lose 10 kilos look like?
This menu has lunch and dinner for all seven days. It is designed for a healthy adult who wants to lose around ten kilos. It is not calculated for pregnancy or breastfeeding, nor for anyone with diabetes treated with insulin, kidney disease or an eating disorder.
Breakfast and afternoon snacks are not in the table because they vary a lot depending on each person’s schedule. There is an example in the full day above. If dinner is where your week falls apart, there are nine dinner ideas for weight loss.
| Day | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Sautéed spinach with garlic and potatoes · baked anchovies with onion · pear | Cucumber and pepper salad · scrambled eggs with prawns and mushrooms · bread · yoghurt |
| Tuesday | Pinto beans stewed in their juices · green salad · yoghurt | White asparagus purée · griddled sole · two slices of watermelon |
| Wednesday | Sprout, cherry tomato, sweetcorn and rice salad · escalivada with grilled chicken breast · two slices of pineapple | Gazpacho with a crumbled hard-boiled egg · bread with skimmed fresh cheese · yoghurt |
| Thursday | Chickpeas with raw onion and pepper · two rusks · yoghurt | Broccoli with potatoes · baked hake with onion and tomato · orange |
| Friday | Noodle soup · turkey breast en papillote with steamed pepper and mushrooms · pear | White asparagus purée · aubergine and onion omelette · yoghurt |
| Saturday | Chilled cucumber soup · stewed squid with onions · peach | Lamb’s lettuce, rocket, carrot, tomato and gherkin salad with tuna in spring water and couscous · yoghurt |
| Sunday | Sautéed vegetables with rice and lean minced meat · yoghurt with strawberries | Gazpacho · baked sea bream with potato and courgette · yoghurt |
The table has no quantities because they depend on you. What does not change are the three components of the plate.
How to organise your shopping to last four months
A week can be improvised; seventeen cannot. Shopping is what holds the plan up when the week goes awry.
- Plan the week’s menu before going out to shop. What is not in the fridge does not become dinner.
- Buy fresh fruit and vegetables at least once a week. Choose a variety, already thinking about what for: salad, soup, sautéed or boiled.
- Keep pantry staples on hand. Tinned asparagus or artichokes, cooked pulses, frozen vegetables, tuna in spring water, eggs and olive oil. With these, dinner is sorted even if the day gets complicated.
- Buy fish and meat for several days and freeze what you will not use within one or two days.
- Cook for more than one day. A stew or a tray bake makes two dinners.
What about eating out or celebrating?
In four or five months there is room for a holiday, two birthdays and a wedding. If your plan does not account for them, it will break at the first one.
In a restaurant, choose what is most like what you eat at home. For a starter, a salad or a grilled vegetable platter. For the main, something griddled or charcoal-grilled. If you are invited to a meal, take a moderate portion and do not have seconds. And if there is nothing green on the table, ask for a dish to share and adjust the portion.
What mistakes do we see in consultations?
Two mistakes are heard almost every week in consultation. Both look like shortcuts and both lengthen the road.
Cutting out carbohydrates. It is the shortcut we have seen fail most often. Bread, potato, rice and pasta are the body’s most direct source of energy. If they are removed, hunger builds up and shows up at night in the form of chocolate or biscuits. That is why there is a little cereal or tuber at breakfast, lunch and dinner, preferably wholegrain. Eating well at set times takes away the urge to eat badly outside them.
Compensating. Skipping the next meal to make up for a dinner usually ends in more hunger and more food the next day. Exercising to pay for what you have eaten turns movement into punishment, and that makes it hard to sustain. The exercise that lasts is the one you like, whether dancing, swimming, skating or walking to work.
Is there anything you can take to speed it up?
We do not recommend supplements to speed up weight loss. If one is indicated for another reason, your doctor or registered dietitian prescribes it.
Medications for obesity exist, and a doctor assesses and prescribes them with a diagnosis in front of them. Deciding who needs them is not the job of a registered dietitian. Supporting people afterwards is, when treatment ends and what sustains weight is habits.
If you are taking a GLP-1 medicine, the prescription is your doctor’s call. To see the average loss observed in trials and at which doses, read how much weight people lose with Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro.
Losing ten kilos takes around four or five months of shopping differently and cooking differently. The hardest part comes afterwards, when the plan ends and the weight has to stay off.
If you have already tried before and always end up back at the starting point, it is worth having someone look at it with you and adapt it to your schedule and your kitchen. Our team of registered dietitians specialising in weight loss works from your nutritional assessment, in Barcelona and online.
We explain it on video
More videos
Your first step this week
Have dinner ready for the day you get home late
Boil three eggs today and keep them in the fridge. With gazpacho and bread with skimmed fresh cheese, you have Wednesday’s dinner without turning on the hob.
Your week of meals, ready for the fridge
- 7-day menu with the shopping list
- 8 recipes: cook once, eat twice
- What to do when the week goes off track
Where should we send it?
Free PDF, in your inbox in a moment.
Data controller: Alimmenta Tu Vida, S.L. Purpose: to send you the guide and, only if you tick the second box, tips by email on the topic. You can withdraw your consent and exercise your rights at [email protected]. Legal basis, recipients and retention periods are in our privacy policy.
When to see a doctor
When to see a doctor
With nutrition and habit changes we can help you lose fat while preserving muscle, and sustain this over time. What we cannot do is find out why weight changes for no apparent reason: if you lose or gain weight without trying to, your doctor should look into that before you change your diet.
Book a medical appointment without waiting to change your diet if you notice any of these signs:
- You faint, feel dizzy when standing or notice palpitations while following a very-low-calorie diet [4]
- You lose weight without trying to: your clothes are loose and you have not changed what you eat [5]
- You are very thirsty, urinate frequently and lose weight at the same time [6]
- Your periods stop or become irregular after losing weight [7]
- You feel you are losing control around food, or compensate for eating with vomiting, laxatives or exercise [7]
If you faint, feel chest pain or your heart races, go to the emergency department today. If you lose weight without trying to, are very thirsty with large amounts of urine, or your periods have stopped, book an appointment with your GP this week. If you feel dizzy when standing on a very-low-calorie diet, stop it and book an appointment with your GP this week. If your legs swell or you notice something new in your body that limits your day-to-day life, see a doctor as soon as possible. If what you are experiencing involves food rather than weight, there is specialist psychology: seek this help before starting a diet, not after.
Losing weight gradually and without scares is normal. These warning signs are uncommon; knowing how to recognise them allows you to stop watching for them.
Start with a first appointment, without a diet in between
Tell us what you have tried and what has not worked. We will tell you whether this consultation is right for you, with whom and in which format —in person or online—, and you can decide without pressure.---
Keep reading
Diet to lose 5 kilos: weekly menu and how long it takes
You want to lose five kilos and what you find are three-day diets, sachets and shakes. You wonder…
Weight-loss diet: how to lose fat and keep it off
You have tried diets that worked for a month, only for the weight to come back, and now…
Fluid retention: what to eat and how to ease swelling
Your legs feel heavy, your ankles are swollen at the end of the day or your rings feel…
How to start a weight-loss diet: 10 key steps
You want to lose weight, you do not know where to start and you have already tried plans…
Diet to lose 15 kilos: weekly menu and how long it takes
You want to lose fifteen kilos and all you find are two-week diets, liquid diets or flour-free plans.…
How to lose 20 kilos: how long it takes and where to start
You want to lose twenty kilos and you find one-month promises, fasts and pills. What you want to…
All aboutLosing weight: nutrition guides
Where to start, how to plan your meals and what to read if your weight is not changing…
ConsultationRegistered dietitian for weight loss in Barcelona and online
More than 17 years of saying goodbye to diets
Book a visit →
Recipes for this goal
Sources
- Lloyd-Jones DM, Allen NB, Anderson CAM, et al. Life’s Essential 8: updating and enhancing the American Heart Association’s construct of cardiovascular health. Circulation. 2022;146(5):e18-e43. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000001078
- Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Br J Sports Med. 2020;54(24):1451-1462. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2020-102955
- Cava E, Yeat NC, Mittendorfer B. Preserving healthy muscle during weight loss. Adv Nutr. 2017;8(3):511-519. doi:10.3945/an.116.014506
- Sociedad Española para el Estudio de la Obesidad (SEEDO) y sociedades participantes. Guía española del manejo integral y multidisciplinar de la obesidad en personas adultas (GIRO). 2024.
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Suspected cancer: recognition and referral. NICE guideline NG12. London: NICE; 2015 (actualizada en 2026).
- American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee. Standards of Care in Diabetes—2026. Diabetes Care. 2026;49(Suppl 1).
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Eating disorders: recognition and treatment. NICE guideline NG69. London: NICE; 2017.
Written and reviewed by
How we can help
Now, applied to you
Registered dietitian for weight loss in Barcelona and onlineMore than 17 years of saying goodbye to diets
4.9 on Google · 5.0 on Doctoralia · 2,072 reviews
