The Little Black Dress Challenge - It's Back!

It’s the beginning of September and you know what that means? It’s time again for the Little Black Dress Challenge! I know many of you have done this with me in past years and it is always eagerly anticipated and very popular! I am launching it again in class next week and I hope you will join me on this 14 week challenge to lose a stone by Christmas!

Do you have parties or meals out planned this Christmas? Would you love to look even more fantastic? Have you got a particular special outfit you would love to be able to fit into once again? If you would like to lose some weight, now is the perfect time to start with my Little Black Dress Challenge.

It’s just 14 weeks before the festive party season hits and that is the perfect amount of time to shed a stone. Join me and lots of others as we take the Little Black Dress challenge and aim to lose 1lb a week.

1 lb a week is a very manageable amount to lose and we CAN do it together! Doing it over 14 weeks will be a slow and steady rate of weight-loss which means it is much more healthy, achievable and likely that you will be able to keep the weight off longer-term.

Go now and fill a plastic bag with a range of tins. Put them on your bathroom scales and weigh out a stone’s worth. Try picking it up. Feel how heavy that is! Now imagine what you would feel like if you shed that amount. Think how much healthier you would feel. And you CAN do it, all in time for the party season!

If you want to join me on this challenge, there are lots of ways to do it. You can follow my blog which will give you hints and tips each week and you can join me on Facebook or on twitter. Or if you need more support and encouragement you can join any of my weight management with exercise classes – just email me for more details. You will get a weekly weigh-in, more tips and help with your weight-loss journey and that all important exercise opportunity which will help to kick-start your challenge and help you achieve success.

The first instalment of my Little Black Dress Challenge will be on Monday, when we will be talking calories and how many you should be looking to eat. In the meantime, you can get ready by:

• Weighing yourself so you have a starting point to count-down from.
• Take a photo of yourself so you have a before and after picture when you finish. This is just for your use (though if you want to share them at the end of the challenge that would be brilliant!) but it will be great for you to see how far you have come on the journey. Perhaps take a head and shoulders shot, and then a fall body shot.
• Taking your key body measurements, such as around your waist, your tummy, your hips, the largest part of your thighs and the tops of your arms. We will be taking those measurements again in a few weeks, and at the end. It’s quite common when we are losing weight for there to be little movement on the scales but we do lose centimetres from our bodies. This is particularly true when you are exercising a lot and perhaps building muscle mass (more of that during the challenge!)
• Print out your Fitness Together Little Black Dress download . There is also a version for men ( Fitness Together Little Black Dress TUX). This is a great visual tool and allows you to chart your progress each week by marking off every pound you lose. Stick it up somewhere prominent, such as on your fridge, and you will find it really motivating as the weeks pass and you see the little dress being coloured in!
• Take a good look at your cupboards and start to get rid of anything that might compromise your journey. Look for high fat, high calories foods, particularly snacks such as crisps, chocolate, biscuits or cakes and give them away. If it’s not in the house, you can’t eat it and it will help you in the first few days of your challenge when old habits are hardest to break.
• And finally, keep visualising that Christmas outfit you want to be wearing in 14 weeks time and think about how fantastic and healthy you will feel in your very own Little Black Dress!

If that wasn’t enough incentive to join our Little Black Dress Challenge, here’s one more! Everyone who loses a stone over the 14 weeks of the challenge and submits a coloured-in dress picture (with your contact details) will go into a prize draw for a WHOLE YEAR of FREE classes with Fitness-Together!

See you back here on Monday 14th for the first week of the challenge!