Natural Weight Loss With Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Mary M. Flynn, PhD, RD

October 2026

Extra virgin olive oil is pure fat, or what is called “lipid” in nutrition, and like all lipid is reported to have nine calories per gram of fat. This would mean that a tablespoon of olive oil would have about 120 calories. While this may sound high, scientists have learned in the recent past that calories that are commonly listed for foods do not always translate to what happens in our body. Meaning if you ate a diet that contained 2000 total calories in a day and it was all plant foods, those calories would be handled differently than 2000 calories that were animal products, sweets, snack foods, and beverages with calories.  There are many factors that account for how the calories you eat translates to your body weight.  These include the overall composition of the meal, individual differences in metabolism and physical activity.  Studies indicate that people who follow a vegetarian diet typically weigh less than those who are non-vegetarians, despite similar total calories. ¹ In contrast, a diet higher in animal protein is related to a great risk of being overweight ^2-4, and greater weight gain over time. ⁵

Studies indicate that people who naturally eat diets high in EVoo tend to weigh less than those who use lesser amounts of EVoo.  A survey in Greeks found that a higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet, which would mean daily EVoo in copious amounts including cooking with EVoo, were shown to have a lower risk of being obese and a lower risk of “central obesity”, which is more fat stored at the waist, which is the least healthy place to have excess fat compared to those who did not eat a Mediterranean diet. ⁶ Another study of more than 7000 Spaniards found a higher consumption of daily EVoo was not related to more weight gain or risk of being overweight or obese, compared to less than daily EVoo. ⁷ 

Diets rich in EVoo have also been shown to be very effective for weight loss.  A study of women with breast cancer who were in need of weight loss based on their body mass index (BMI), compared the low-fat diet recommended by the National Cancer Institute to a diet that included three tablespoons of EVoo a day as part of a plant-based diet. ⁸  This study found that more women lost at least 5% of their baseline body weight (the amount needed to start to see improvements in clinical risk factors) on the EVoo enriched diet compared to a low-fat diet. The same protocol in men with recurrent prostate cancer on hormone therapy found that weight loss was not different on the EVoo enriched diet compared to the low-fat diet.⁹  However, while on the EVoo diet, the men had decreases in fasting glucose and insulin and improvement in their insulin sensitivity despite the same weight loss, which would all relate to lower future cancer risk.  Both protocols allowed the participants to choose one of the diets for an additional six months of follow-up and more participants in both studies selected the EVoo diet over the low-fat diet, suggesting greater acceptance of a diet with at least three tablespoons of EVoo per day. The participants in both protocols kept food records to assess diet compliance and the participants in both protocols reported significantly great caloric intake on the EVoo diet despite greater ⁸ or equivalent ⁹ weight loss. While there is no perfect way to have participants record their food intake, both of these studies had the participants record their food intake on both diets. Thus, the diet intake comparisons were to the same person so this would provide more confidence that the recorded diet were accurate meaning they ate more total food while on the EVoo enriched diet.

In another study of women over weight by BMI but otherwise healthy compared about two tablespoons a day of either EVoo or soybean oil for nine weeks of weight loss.¹⁰  This study found that the weight loss between the diets was not different, however the women assigned to the daily EVoo lost more body fat compared to the soybean oil diet.  As the weight loss was the same on the diets, the loss of more body fat with daily EVoo is intriguing and indicates a distinct advantage to an EVoo enriched diet.

The PREDIMED study is a study in Spain that involves more than 7000 participants randomly assigned to one of three diets: four tablespoons of EVoo a day or 30 grams of nuts or a low-fat diet. After close to five years of the intervention with the diets, the group assigned to the daily EVoo diet lost more weight compared to the low-fat diet group and had a greater decrease in their waist size. ¹¹ In addition, as seen in the other studies comparing an EVoo enriched diet to a low-fat diet, the participants consuming daily EVoo also reported consuming more calories compared to the low-fat diet.

Summary:

·       A diet rich in daily EVoo does not mean that you will gain weight.

·       Eating a plant-based diet that includes three tablespoons of EVoo such as Laconiko Estate is effective for weight loss.

·       A diet rich in EVoo may be more acceptable for weight loss and may result in the loss of more body fat.

·       A plant-based diet that includes EVoo may allow for a higher calorie intake compared to a lower fat diet and lead to at least equivalent and possibly more weight loss.

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