How to lose weight in weeks

If losing weight were easy, everyone would be happily swanning around at their goal weight. But it takes work, effort and dedication to drop unwanted kilos.

As AJ Rochester, former host of The Biggest Loser, used to say, losing weight is a matter of mathematics: it’s simply calories in versus calories out. The more calories you put in your mouth, the more calories you need to burn to avoid putting on weight, or to burn the extra kilograms you’re already carrying.

Therefore, if you have set yourself a weight loss goal of 10 kilograms in 10 weeks, there are two ways you can go about it. You can either strip back your calorie intake so you’re consuming less calories on a daily basis, or, you can boost your level of exercise to ramp up the level of calories you’re burning.

In her book, The 5-Minute Diet Book, Rochester advocates a balanced diet that includes eating “every three hours or so.”

“Don’t eat two hours before you go to bed, and don’t miss meals, even if you aren’t hungry,” she adds. “Also, do some form of exercise five to six days a week, even if it’s just walking. And get lots of variety — boredom will send you to the fridge.”

These seem like easy rules to live by, but how do you actually implement a weight loss strategy incorporating these guidelines that will deliver you to your weight loss goal?

Step 1: Understand your BMR

We each need to eat a certain number of calories every day simply to survive and function.

“Your body burns a certain amount of calories by performing basic bodily functions. This is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR),” advises Sydney-based personal trainers, AllFitness.com.au.

“This continual work makes up about 60-70 per cent of the calories we use and includes the beating of our heart, breathing and the maintenance of body temperature.”

Therefore, to lose weight, you need to either consume less than your BMR, or maintain a higher calorie intake and do more exercise.

Step 2: Calculate your daily calorie intake

According to AllFitness.com.au, your daily calorie intake should be roughly as follows:

Step 3: Devise an eating and exercise strategy

To lose around 1 kilogram a week, you need to burn (on average) 1,000 calories per day more than you eat.

If you are a 70 kilogram female, for instance, this could mean limiting your calorie intake to around 1,500 (down from 1,920) and performing additional exercise that burns roughly 500 calories per day.

Here are some exercises that burn around 500 calories for an average person weighing 70 kilograms:

• Aerobics – 70 minutes
• Basketball – 55 minutes
• Cycling – 55 minutes
• Golf – 110 minutes
• Tennis – 60 minutes
• Swimming freestyle – 55 minutes
• Rowing – 60 minutes
• Running – 45 minutes
• Walking – 120 minutes

Step 4: Meal planning

In order to stick to your healthy eating plan, you need to plan your meals in advance, as reaching for quick snacks on the go is where most people’s good intentions come unstuck. Use websites such as www.calorieking.com.au to check the calorie content of your meals.

Step 5: Chart your progress

Whether it’s a chart, a table or a simple record made on a notepad, it’s important to log your progress each week as you work towards your goal. Dropping 700 grams in one week may not seem significant in itself, but keep in mind that if you’re planning to lose 10 kilograms in 10 weeks, that loss means you have achieved seven per cent of your weight loss goal! Keeping a weekly record helps you stay on track and reminds you how far you’ve come.

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