Little Black Dress Challenge - Week 1
It’s a great day – it’s the first day of our 14 week Little Black Dress Challenge! By the time you go out to celebrate Christmas, you could be a stone lighter, looking fabulous in that special outfit you’ve always wanted to wear and feeling great. And it all starts here, today!
If you haven’t already heard about my Little Black Dress Challenge, then be sure to read my introductory post. And before you start today, make sure you have done all the preparation I mentioned last week including taking your weight, your measurements and taking a photo. You might also like to print out my Fitness Together Little Black Dress download (or for men, Fitness Together Little Black Dress TUX) which enables you to chart your progress each week.
You can do this challenge at home, just follow me on my blog or Facebook over the next few weeks. Or can join me and lots of others who are doing it together in my fitness classes. To find a suitable class, just visit my timetable page.
So we have 14 weeks to lose a stone. That is just 1 pound a week! It CAN be done – but it still takes a lot of will power, a change in habits and some knowledge. And this week were are going to focus on understanding calories.
At its very simplest, losing weight requires that you consume fewer calories each week than your body uses up in energy. 1 pound or weight equals approximately 3500 calories of energy. So to lose a pound a week, you need to eat 3500 calories less, or increase your exercise levels in order to burn off an extra 3500 each and every week!
I know that sounds a lot, but over 7 days that equates to 500 calories a day. So you can either eat 500 calories less per day, or burn 500 calories more? Or do a mixture of the two, such as eat 250 less, and burn off 250 more? Suddenly, that sounds much more achievable.
So this week, let’s start by watching our calorie intake and aiming to eat 500 calories less. Everyone is different and how many calories you need depends on different factors. There is a great online tool here where you can put in your height, weight and age and it will calculate how many calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight, based on your exercise levels. If you do this, and then take off 500, you will have approximate guide to how many you should be eating during this challenge to lose 1lb a week. Or come and talk to me in class and I can help you work it out.
Read your food packaging carefully and always measure out your portions to help you keep track of your calories. There are lots of calorie counting apps for phones or ipads now you can download for free, or there is a free tool on the NHS website
Don’t forget to share how you are doing on my Facebook page this week. And check back here next week when we talk about fat. Let’s do it!