Litchi and weight loss: enjoying the season, measured

54 kcal in about 10 litchis, 100 g peeled.
1 g protein per serving, from IFCT 2017.
Whole fruit on a plate built to lose fat and keep muscle.

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Litchi fits a weight-loss plan as a seasonal fruit in a counted portion. About ten litchis (100 g) give 54 kcal and 11.4 g of carbohydrate with 1.3 g of fibre. They are easy to overeat straight from the bunch, so count them into a bowl.

Medical review by a registered doctor on our panel is pending. Every number is from IFCT 2017, the Indian Food Composition Tables published by ICMR's National Institute of Nutrition.

Published 18 October 2026 · Last updated 18 October 2026

Litchi nutrition, per serving and per 100 g

Litchi: IFCT 2017 figures
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100 g
Energy	54 kcal	54 kcal
Protein	1 g	1 g
Carbohydrate (available)	11.4 g	11.4 g
Dietary fibre	1.3 g	1.3 g
Fat	0.3 g	0.3 g

Serving: about 10 litchis, 100 g peeled. IFCT 2017 food code E035, "Litchi (Litchi chinensis)", the mean of 4 regions sampled. IFCT does not report glycaemic index, so this page prints none.

The verdict on litchi

Whole fruit

One counted fruit in place of a sweet or a packet snack.

1.8 g of protein for every 100 kcal.
One serving gives 1 g of the roughly 58 g of protein a day ICMR-NIN's RDA sets for a 70 kg adult.
1.3 g of fibre in a serving.

How litchi fits a plan that loses fat and keeps muscle

IFCT 2017 gives litchi 54 kcal per 100 g, similar to grapes and mango, with modest fibre at 1.3 g. It is a sweet, juicy fruit for a short season; enjoy it, count it as your fruit for the day, and keep the rest of the plate as usual.

Because litchi carries little fibre or protein, it works best after a meal or beside a protein snack rather than on an empty stomach. Ten litchis after lunch is a satisfying dessert for modest calories.

Litchi in an Indian kitchen

Litchi season is short, May and June in Bihar and the north, and the fruit is easy to over-eat by the bunch, so count ten into a bowl and stop there. Give litchis to children after a meal, not on an empty stomach: the Muzaffarpur investigation linked eating many litchis, unripe ones especially, to dangerously low blood sugar in undernourished children who had skipped their evening meal. Canned litchi in syrup carries added sugar. Peel and chill them for a cool summer snack.

Pair it, or swap it

Litchis with a katori of curd make a sweet, protein-backed snack. Chilled litchis after a meal replace a mithai comfortably.

Worth knowing

Eat litchis after food rather than on an empty stomach, especially for children. Canned litchis in syrup carry added sugar.

Litchi against similar foods

Per 100 g, IFCT 2017
Food	Energy	Protein	Fibre
Litchi	54 kcal	1 g	1.3 g
Grapes, green seedless	54 kcal	0.6 g	1.3 g
Mango, kesar	55 kcal	0.5 g	2 g
Pomegranate	55 kcal	1.3 g	2.8 g

Litchi: questions people ask

How many calories are in litchi?

IFCT 2017 gives litchi 54 kcal per 100 g; about ten peeled litchis give roughly 54 kcal.

Is litchi good for weight loss?

It fits as a counted seasonal fruit. It is low in fibre, so serve a bowl rather than eating from the bunch.

Can people with high blood sugar eat litchi?

Many can, in a small portion after a meal. If you have diabetes or prediabetes, ask your doctor how fruit fits your plan.

Sources

[1] Longvah T, Ananthan R, Bhaskarachary K, Venkaiah K. Indian Food Composition Tables 2017
National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad, 2017. Table 1, Proximate Principles and Dietary Fibre: energy, protein, fat, available carbohydrate and dietary fibre per 100 g edible portion, the mean of the regions sampled. Every figure on this page comes from it.
Read the source
[2] ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition. Dietary Guidelines for Indians
ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad, 2024. Recommends combining cereals with pulses in a 3:1 ratio for protein quality, meeting vegetarian protein needs from pulses, beans and milk, keeping added sugar under 5% of energy and salt to 5 g a day, and slow, steady weight reduction.
Read the source
[3] ICMR-NIN Expert Group on Nutrient Requirements for Indians. Recommended Dietary Allowances and Estimated Average Requirements
ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad (brief note), 2020. Sets the protein RDA for healthy Indian adults at 0.83 g per kg of body weight a day, and 1 g per kg for people on a cereal-based diet with lower-quality protein.
Read the source
[4] Wycherley TP, et al. Effects of energy-restricted high-protein, low-fat compared with standard-protein, low-fat diets: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012. In energy-restricted trials, higher-protein diets produced slightly greater fat loss and better preservation of fat-free mass than standard-protein diets.
Read the source
[5] Shukla AP, et al. Food Order Has a Significant Impact on Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Levels
Diabetes Care, 2015. Eating vegetables and protein before carbohydrate in the same meal produced lower post-meal glucose and insulin than the reverse order, in a small crossover study.
Read the source
[6] Shrivastava A, et al. Association of acute toxic encephalopathy with litchi consumption in an outbreak in Muzaffarpur, India, 2014: a case-control study
The Lancet Global Health, 2017. Linked an outbreak of illness with low blood sugar in young children to eating litchis and skipping the evening meal, and advised that children eat a meal and limit litchis.
Read the source

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