Lose weight without wrecking your health
A coach that pushes you, yes. A coach that lets you do anything daft, no. Kiloach helps you lose weight at your own pace, no miracle diets, always keeping an eye on your health. Here’s what you need to know before you start, and what the app does for you.
The principle, no waffle
Your body burns energy all day long, even while you sleep. To breathe, keep your heart beating, stay warm, digest, and of course to move. When you eat a bit less than it burns, it digs into its reserves for the difference. That’s weight loss, right there.
The secret is in the “a bit”. Too small a gap and nothing shifts. Too big a gap and your body fights back, hunger spikes, tiredness kicks in, and you give up after three weeks. To find out what you actually burn, try our calorie calculator.
How much to lose, and at what pace
- You don’t need to aim high to feel better. According to UK and European health guidance, losing 5 to 15% of your starting weight already brings real health benefits (HAS). For someone at 90 kg, that’s 4.5 to 13.5 kg.
- Steady pace beats a sprint. Health authorities suggest a loss of around 1 to 2 kg per month. The NHS recommends not cutting more than about 600 kcal a day from your usual intake (NHS).
- Faster isn’t better. Losing too quickly costs you muscle, leaves you knackered, and often ends in the yo-yo effect.
Why the first kilos fly off so fast
In the first couple of weeks, the scale often drops quickly. That’s good news, but it helps to know what’s actually happening. Part of that early loss is water, which your body was storing alongside its sugar reserves. Then the pace slows down, and that’s completely normal. It’s not that you’re doing worse, it’s that you’re finally losing mostly fat.
The plateau, an unavoidable stage
One day, the curve just stops. A week, sometimes two. Your body adapts, it weighs less so it burns a little less, and it sometimes holds onto water when you change your habits or your workouts. Most of the time, you just need to hold steady. And since your target recalculates at every weigh-in, it follows your new weight.
What Kiloach does for you
- A target built for you. Calculated from your age, height, weight, sex and how much you actually move. Not a one-size-fits-all number.
- A target that follows your body. It updates itself with every weigh-in, because your body changes, and so do your needs.
- Your day in one colour. In the evening, you instantly see whether your day moved you forward, kept you balanced, or went a bit too far, either way. No midday trial, a day is only judged once it’s done.
- The week before the meal. It’s your average over several days that counts, not one celebration dinner.
- Reminders when your log stays empty. A gentle nudge if you haven’t logged anything, or haven’t eaten, at the time you usually would.
- Your activity counted. If you’ve got a watch or phone tracking your steps and workouts, Kiloach factors it in.
- You stay in charge. Change your target whenever you want, and give yourself a more relaxed one for the weekend.
Every screen in detail is on the features page.
Eating too little is never a win
This is our number one rule. A day where you’ve barely eaten anything isn’t a success, it’s a warning sign. Your body runs low on fuel, your muscle fades, your mood too, and the next day’s blow-out is already on its way.
- No confetti for going too low. Kiloach will never cheer you on for a day that’s too skimpy. It’ll tell you, kindly.
- An alert if you lose too fast. And it waits until it has enough data so it doesn’t panic you early on for nothing.
- A sensible goal. The app won’t let you set a target weight that would be bad for your health.
- Advice if it keeps happening. If too-low days keep coming back, Kiloach suggests talking to your GP or a dietitian.
What’s on your plate matters too
Two 500 kcal meals aren’t equal. The one that keeps you full until evening beats the one that leaves you starving by 4pm.
- Protein. Meat, fish, eggs, dairy, pulses. It helps you hold onto muscle while losing fat, and it fills you up. Health guidance sets a minimum of 0.83g per kilo of body weight per day for an adult (ANSES). Kiloach shows you where you stand.
- Fibre. Vegetables, fruit, wholegrains, pulses. They fill your stomach and slow down hunger.
- Sugar. Health guidance suggests staying under 100g of total sugars a day, excluding milk (ANSES). Kiloach tracks added sugars separately. Whole fruit doesn’t count towards that, so go ahead and eat your fruit.
- Alcohol. UK guidance caps it at 14 units a week, spread across several days, not saved up for one big session. Kiloach counts your drinks and their calories, with a bit of humour, but never pushes you to drink.
- Water. Zero calories, and it helps you tell hunger from thirst. Kiloach tracks what you drink, glass by glass.
The traps that stall your progress
- Liquid calories. Fizzy drinks, juices, sweet coffees, a round of drinks. Easy to forget, the scale doesn’t.
- Oil and sauces. One extra spoon of oil can quickly add up to a hundred calories. When you log a meal, think about how it’s cooked.
- Invisible snacking. The square of chocolate, finishing the kids’ plates, the biscuit at your desk. Log it, it’s not a confession, it’s just information.
- The never-ending weekend. Friday night to Sunday is three days out of seven. A looser target, sure. No target at all, not quite.
- Watch calories. They’re still estimates. Don’t eat back everything your watch says you’ve burned.
Move, even a little
You don’t need to become a marathon runner. Walking, taking the stairs, getting up from your chair regularly, it all counts and it shows in your day. Kiloach tracks your steps, your floors and your sitting time, and nudges you to get up when you’ve been still too long.
Your weight going up and down is normal
Your weight shifts from one day to the next, sometimes by a kilo or more, because of water, salt, digestion or last night’s meal. That’s not fat. Kiloach smooths out your curve to show you the real trend, and that’s what actually matters.
For comparable weigh-ins, weigh yourself in the morning, after the loo, before eating, in the same kind of clothes. One rough Monday morning doesn’t mean you’ve slipped back.
What your coach really tells you
Kiloach doesn’t lecture you. It talks to you honestly, with a bit of humour. Here are a few lines you’ll bump into in the app.
When the scales are playing tricks on youA weigh-in is a snapshot. The trend is the whole film.
When you're not eating enoughEating too little is the best way to cave tomorrow. Put something decent on your plate.
When you push the deficit too hardA deficit is good. A massive deficit means tiredness, crankiness and caving in. Pick your side.
When your diary's sitting emptyIf you just forgot to log your meals, log them. If you really ate nothing, go and eat.
After you've caved inA slip is information, not a life sentence. Tomorrow, you show it who's boss.
When you forget the little extrasThe forgotten glass of wine, the handful of peanuts… Those get logged too.
When to talk to a professional
Kiloach is a tracking and motivation tool, not medical advice. Talk to your GP or a dietitian first if
- you have a condition or treatment, for example diabetes, heart or kidney disease;
- you’re pregnant or breastfeeding;
- you’re under 18;
- your relationship with food is complicated, whether you restrict a lot or struggle to stop eating;
- you have a lot of weight to lose and want proper support.
Frequently asked questions
How many kilos a month is it reasonable to lose?
Health guidance suggests around 1 to 2 kg a month. Any faster and you often lose muscle and put it straight back on. Kiloach helps you stick to that pace.
Why did I lose loads in the first week, then much less?
At the start, you lose a fair bit of water alongside fat. Then the pace settles down. That’s actually a sign you’re finally losing mostly fat.
Why doesn’t Kiloach congratulate me when I eat very little?
Because eating too little isn’t a win. Your body needs energy to keep going, and losing weight too fast rarely ends well.
I haven’t lost anything in ten days, is that a problem?
No, that’s a plateau, almost everyone hits one. Keep going, look at your trend over several weeks, and check for the little traps, drinks, oil, snacking.
Why does the app ask if I’m a man or a woman?
Because at the same age, height and weight, men and women don’t burn the same amount of energy. It makes your target more accurate. You can also skip the question.
Can I eat more at the weekend?
Yes. You can set a more relaxed target for the weekend. Kiloach looks at your week as a whole.
Do I have to weigh everything?
No. Describe your meal in a sentence or snap a photo, and Kiloach estimates it for you. It’ll never be exact to the gram, and that’s fine, it’s your weight trend that tells the real story.
Can I change my target?
Yes, any time. Kiloach suggests a guideline, but you’re the one who decides.