Little Black Dress Challenge - Week 8

We are over half way there! We have climbed the mountain, reached the top and are now on our way back down again, with less than 7 weeks left before we put on those Christmas outfits and show off our new figures. Hopefully we have around half of our little black dresses or tux (print out my Fitness Together Little Black Dress download or for men my  Fitness Together Little Black Dress TUX ) coloured in and we can really begin to see that the end is in sight and believe we can do it! But now we have to be careful. It is no time to get complacent. How many times have you lost a few pounds in the past and been really pleased with yourself, believing you were well on your way to reaching your goal, only for your weight loss to fizzle out and end? When we have done well, we can begin to forget what hard work it took to achieve it and mistakenly believe the weight will just continue to come off. We skip a few classes, we take the lift ‘just this once’ instead of the stairs and we enjoy the odd snack, hoping it wont make a difference.

So this week I want us to all refocus and recommit to the challenge. Almost think of it as starting again, this time for the second leg of our journey. Check everything you eat this week, perhaps by doing another food diary (find out more from my week 4 post), and make sure you really are reducing those calories and keeping your fat intake to 5% or less.

Be strict with yourself. Go through your cupboards again and remove temptation just like we did at the beginning! Target all those high calorie or high fat treats that always lurk in the corners, calling to us when we have a weak moment, like cheese biscuits, or packets of crisps, or that ‘emergency’ chocolate bar! In week 5 (link) we looked at how snacking, particularly on the wrong kinds of food could sabotage our weight loss because it often meant taking in lots of calories ON TOP of our normal amount from our meals. Remember you only have a limited amount of calories to spend each day before they start to get stored as fat – make sure you spend them wisely, eating food which will keep you fuller for longer, like high fibre cereal or soup etc. And keep up your exercise levels, don’t let them drop off – we still have a long way to go! Let's make sure we lose a stone by Christmas.