Weight Management Guide

We do not allow content that promotes disordered eating and risky weight management behaviors. We also do not allow trading, marketing, or providing access to weight-related products and services that include exaggerated or harmful claims.
Disordered Eating and Risky Weight Management includes:

• Using dieting, fasting, or medication in unsafe ways.
• Exercising to lose weight or build muscle when it could harm your health.
• Trying to achieve fast or drastic weight or muscle changes that could cause damage.

NOT ALLOWED

• Showing, describing, promoting, or glorifying disordered eating, including:
  • Extremely low-calorie diets.
  • Starving, bingeing, and purging.
  • Participating in body comparison trends, such as comparing body parts to objects.
• Trading, marketing, or providing access to:
  • Products or services prone to misuse for weight loss or muscle gain, and that may pose serious health risks.
  • Any product or service promoted with exaggerated or harmful claims, such as unrealistic weight loss results.
• Direct weight loss claims
  • A promoted product or its ingredients are connected to a weight-loss effect.
  • Violation examples:
    • "This pill will help you burn fat."
    • "If you want to lose lbs, try this."
    • "5-HTP can help with weight loss." (5-HTP, an amino acid, is a product ingredient)
    • "After using it, I'm no longer obese."
• Before/after comparison
  • Static images or sequences showing visual weight loss comparison on the human body (for example, waist, face, or body) with a few exemptions on bloating or skin tightening.
• GLP-1 related claims
  • A promoted product or its ingredients contain, act as, are bioequivalent to, or are better than GLP-1 (a type of medication used for diabetes and weight management). This may include inferred comparison to GLP-1 using codewords or symbols (for example, the needle, the popular shot, 💉).
  • Violation examples:
    • "This product has GLP-1 activation."
    • "GLP-1 mimic."

Keep in mind that content with highly graphic imagery is generally not allowed, regardless of intent.

✅ Best Practices

1. Keep it healthy and general

Focus on overall well-being and healthy lifestyle habits instead of promising specific weight outcomes.
Avoid making direct promises that a product will:

• Cause or speed up weight loss.
• Prevent or treat conditions like obesity or anorexia.

2. Understand weight management

Understand what constitutes a weight management claim. These are explicit statements that a product can cause or aid weight loss, or prevent weight-related conditions such as obesity or anorexia.

3. Avoid explicit weight-loss promises and violating examples

The following types of content are not allowed when attached to a product:

• Direct promises like "Lose weight fast!" or "Rapid fat loss".
• Statements such as "This supplement helped break down my stubborn fat deposits" or "This tea can help you prevent obesity".
• Claims that a product guarantees weight loss within a specific timeframe, such as "Guaranteed weight loss in X days".
• Content that implies weight loss by showing before-and-after photos tied to a product.
• Personal weight-loss stories that explicitly credit a specific product.

Do not claim a product caused your weight loss, even when describing your own experience. This is treated as a weight management claim and is not allowed.

4. Be careful with images, detox language, and targeted areas

Avoid any content that suggests a product:

• Promotes weight loss through detoxing mechanisms ("detox for weight loss").
• Produces visible slimming results in a set number of days.
• Burns fat in a specific body area (for example, "flattens belly fat" or "shrinks thighs").
• Treats or improves weight-related conditions.
• Is "clinically approved" or prescription-level for weight loss.
• Provides weight-loss results shown through before-and-after imagery.

If an image, caption, or layout makes it look like a product causes weight loss, it may be treated as a claim even if the wording is indirect.

5. Do not attribute weight loss to specific ingredients

You must not claim that special ingredients make a product effective for weight loss. For example, avoid statements like:

• "Formulated with CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid, a fatty acid) to help reduce body fat."
• "Infused with L-carnitine (an amino acid supplement) to enhance fat burning and boost energy during workouts."
• "Contains Forskolin (an extract from the Indian Coleus plant) to break down stored fat and promote weight loss."
• "Made with natural diuretics to help you shed water weight quickly."

Framing ingredients as fat-burning or slimming leads to weight management claims and can cause violations.

6. Avoid high-risk weight-loss keywords

Treat weight-loss-focused words as red flags when they are connected to a product. Examples include:

• Weight loss aid, lose weight, rapid weight loss, quick weight loss.
• Fat burner, fat loss, melt fat, burn fat, fat reduction.
• Shred pounds, shed weight, slim down, lose inches, trim body fat.
• Flat tummy, tone and burn fat.
• Prevent or reduce obesity.
• Reduce waistline by X cm/inches.

Combining these words with a product reference effectively creates a weight management claim and is not allowed.

7. Use general wellness language instead

You can talk about general wellness and lifestyle benefits as long as you avoid claiming weight loss or medical results. Safer wording focuses on how people feel, not how much they weigh. Examples include:

• "Enhances my energy".
• "Helps me feel less sluggish".
• "Supports my balanced diet".
• "Helps me feel less bloated or constipated".
• "Supports my overall well-being".
• "Supports my balanced lifestyle".
• "Helps me feel cleaner or more refreshed".

You can also use broader lifestyle terms. However, you must not connect them to explicit weight loss or medical claims. Examples include:

• well-being
• eat clean
• balanced diet
• nutrition tips
• nutrition
• keto diet
• meal prep
• healthy choices
• food is fuel
• wellness
• healthy eating

8. Handle personal testimonies carefully

Personal stories about weight change must be handled with care.

• It is not allowed to say or imply that a specific non-exempted product caused your weight loss.
• It is allowed to talk about your general lifestyle, energy, or well-being as long as you do not attribute weight loss to a particular non-exempted product.

The following categories are exempt and weight-loss claims are allowed for them:

• Sports equipment.
• Body measuring devices.
• Regular clothing, excluding high-risk compression items designed for weight loss.
• Diet or exercise plans and coaching.
• Books related to weight management.

For shapewear, you may describe shaping effects, but you must not claim that it causes actual weight loss.

9. Turn "Do not do this" into "Do this instead"

Summarizing the Health Feedback Summit guidance:
Do not do this:

• Make explicit claims that a product can cause or speed up weight loss.
• Promote weight loss using high-risk keywords or weight-focused hashtags.
• Suggest that a product treats or cures weight-related or medical conditions.
• Make "clinically approved" weight-loss claims for non-exempted products.
• Share before-and-after weight-loss photos tied to a product or personal testimony that credits a product for weight loss.

Do this instead:

• Share tips and routines that promote healthy habits and balanced lifestyles.
• Focus on general wellness benefits such as energy, digestion, and feeling less sluggish.
• Use neutral, wellness-focused language rather than weight-loss promises.
• Encourage viewers to check TikTok Shop Academy (our online learning portal) for up-to-date best practices on health-related content.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: Can I say that a drink or supplement helped me "lose weight fast"?A1: No. Statements like "lose weight fast" are explicit weight management claims. When they are connected to a product, they may lead to violations. Instead, focus on general wellness benefits and avoid promising weight-loss outcomes.
Q2: Can I share before-and-after photos showing my weight loss while using a product?A2: No, not for non-exempted products. Before-and-after photos that imply a product caused weight loss are treated as explicit weight management claims and are not allowed.
Q3: Is it okay to highlight ingredients like CLA, L-carnitine, or Forskolin as "fat-burning" or "slimming"?A3: No. Claiming that specific ingredients help burn fat, reduce body fat, or shed weight is considered a weight management claim. You should avoid describing ingredients as fat-burning or slimming.
Q4: How can I talk about detox or bloating safely?A4: You may talk about general feelings such as "helps me feel less sluggish" or "supports my digestion" without mentioning weight loss or medical conditions. Keep the focus on comfort and well-being, and avoid suggesting that detoxing leads to weight loss.
Q5: Are any products allowed to have weight-loss claims?A5: Yes. Weight-loss claims are allowed for certain exempted products like sports equipment, body measuring devices, clothes, diet and exercise plans or coaching, and books about weight management. For shapewear, you can mention slimming or shaping effects, but not actual weight loss.

Compliance guidance

• All content on TikTok, including all TikTok Shop listings and videos, must comply with our overarching TikTok Community Guidelines.
• While the TikTok Shop Weight Management Policy provides specific guardrails for e-commerce, the Community Guidelines address a broader range of safety behaviors and content standards. When reviewing content or providing guidance, please refer to both sets of policies to ensure full compliance and platform safety. Content that violates these guidelines may be removed. First-time violations may result in temporary restrictions, while repeated violations could lead to more severe account restrictions, such as a longer suspension or an account ban.

Helpful Links

1. Content Policy
2. Requirements for Responsible Health-Related Content

TikTok Community Guideline on Disordered Eating, Risky Weight Management, and Body Image