Is Kiwi Good For Weight Loss Or Fattening?

This article has been Fact-Checked by Kendall Kennedy MS, RD, RYT

There are many different foods you can add to your weight loss diet. One of them is kiwi, is it good for weight loss or fattening?

The kiwifruit or kiwi in short is actually a berry, and berries are also fruits. The kiwi originates from China, but today it is available all around the world (1).

Find out how good kiwi is for losing weight and how it compares to other popular fruits.

Micronutrients in kiwi

The first thing to look at is the amount of micronutrients in kiwi.

Micronutrients are a group of nutrients your body absolutely needs to survive and thrive. Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals. These are involved in basically every aspect of your health, including weight loss.

100 grams of kiwi provides you with approximately (2):

• Vitamin C: 155% of the DV (Daily Value)
• Vitamin K: 50% of the DV
• Potassium: 9% of the DV
• Vitamin E: 7% of the DV
• Folate: 6% of the DV
• Copper: 6% of the DV
• Manganese: 5% of the DV

And some other vitamins and minerals in less significant amounts. The amount of vitamin C and vitamin K in kiwi are great. The amount of certain other vitamins and minerals are nice too. That being said, there are many foods that are better and many foods that are worse sources of vitamins and minerals.

For most vitamins and minerals kiwi isn’t the greatest fruit.

Kiwis also contain antioxidants, substances that can help your body deal with oxidative damage.

Fiber in kiwi for weight loss

Another very important factor for weight loss is the amount of fiber in your food.

Kiwis contain around 3 grams of fiber per 100 grams.

That’s a good amount of fiber per 100 grams compared to many whole foods.

Fiber has multiple benefits for weight loss. First of all, it feeds your microbiome, the microbes that live in your intestines. The health of your microbiome influences your body’s health and weight. Feeding it well is usually not a bad idea.

Fiber also helps you feel less hungry without adding a lot of calories to your diet. Hunger and cravings can be a big pitfall for people trying to lose weight, so avoiding this is a big plus.

With the amount of fiber in kiwi you can reduce the time you spend craving for food a lot.

Do kiwis help you lose weight?

You still need a final piece of the puzzle. The amount of calories in kiwi.

Kiwi contains 61 calories per 100 grams. 52.8 of these calories come from the carbohydrates (14.7 g per 100 grams of which 3 g fiber). One medium kiwi without skin (76 g) contains around 46.4 calories.

Kiwi is not great for low carb diets like the keto diet but you should be able to fit some in.

The amount of calories in kiwi is not that high in general. There are both lower-calorie fruits and higher calorie fruits. Compared to many vegetables kiwi is relatively high in calories.

That being said, kiwi is still a low-calorie food that can help you feel fuller with its fiber content. Depending on your current diet kiwi can help you lose weight.

If you really like kiwi you can most likely fit this fruit in your diet. If you don’t like it you don’t have to go out of your way to force it into your daily eating habits. Other foods can be better for weight loss.

How many kiwis should you eat per day?

Nutrition is always a bit of a puzzle in terms of what the perfect diet looks like. It’s a pretty individual thing.

Consuming enough micronutrients is important for both your short and long-term health. Kiwis can help you reach your daily micronutrient goals up to a point but you will need other food as well.

That’s why something like the fruit diet, mostly eating fruits, is just plain bad for you.

If you have consumed enough micronutrients you can see how many kiwis still fit within your daily calories. The amount will be different from individual to individual from day to day, it can be 0 too.

When to eat kiwi for weight loss

The calories in kiwi are mainly from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates raise insulin. Insulin in turn can mess with the production of sleep hormones. Sleep is important for your weight loss and health.

That’s why you preferably want to consume kiwi earlier in the day or at least not right before bed.

Does Kiwi help burn belly fat?

Targetting fat loss in a specific area like your belly is generally not possible. Not by eating more of a specific food or by doing a specific exercise. To lose belly fat you have to lose weight overall.

Since kiwi can help you lose weight in general this fruit can also help you lose belly fat once your body wants to lose fat in your abdominal area.

Kiwi vs other popular fruits for weight loss

You now know how good kiwis are for weight loss but how do they compare to certain other fruits? Find out how good kiwis are for weight loss vs bananas, oranges, and apples.

Kiwi vs banana

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits there are. If you’re only looking at calories bananas contain more percentage-wise. Kiwis contain around 61 calories per 100 grams vs the 89 calories per 100 grams of bananas (3).

Kiwis contain around 3 grams of fiber per 100 grams, bananas 2.6 grams. Bananas contain about the same amount of vitamins and minerals as kiwi but more spread out over different vitamins and minerals.

Kiwis are slightly better for weight loss than bananas.

Kiwi vs orange

Oranges are another popular fruit choice. Oranges are lower in calories than kiwi, 47 calories per 100 grams (4).

The amount of fiber in both of these fruits is similar but enough of a difference to matter. Oranges have about 2.4 grams of fiber per 100 grams vs the 3 grams of kiwi. Kiwis are higher in vitamins and minerals than oranges.

It’s hard to predict which of these 2 fruits is the best for weight loss. This most likely depends on the individual. If you struggle with hunger the extra fiber in kiwi might be worth the small amount of extra calories.

Kiwi vs apple

Next there is kiwi vs apples. Apples are lower in calories than kiwi, 52 calories per 100 grams vs the 61 calories per 100 grams of kiwi (5).

Apples contain around 2.4 grams of fiber per 100 grams. Considerably lower than the 3 grams of fiber per 100 grams in kiwi. Kiwis also contain a lot more vitamins and minerals than apples.

All in all, kiwis and apples are similar for weight loss, kiwis probably being slightly better. There most likely won’t be a difference of several pounds but if you like both the same amount you might as well choose kiwi.

Chart of kiwi vs other popular fruits

All in all, the differences between these fruits won’t make that much of a difference when it comes to losing weight. If you like all these fruits equally you might as well choose the ones that are better for weight loss.

The amount of vitamins and minerals in the foods does matter for weight loss and health but you can’t simplify that in one number. You can check out the numbers for kiwi (2), bananas (3), oranges (4), and apples (5) to compare.