So how do you lose weight through exercise and diet?

Through our experience on the show, we have constantly been told that the simplest way to lose and maintain your  weight is to ensure energy in = energy out.
Sounds simple but what does this mean exactly.

To maintain your weight, you need to ensure everything you consume is going to be burnt off or used by your body to function.  We all have a natural BMR which is the amount of energy we burn through doing nothing.  This amount should be your basis for you daily calorie intake.

To work out your BMR  use the below equations, or simply use one of the many online calculators available, such as the one on Michelle Bridges Website.

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

 
 Seems like a difficult equation but once you practice it it gets easier ( trust us we hate numbers)

Now that you know your BMR you can work out how many calories you need to burn a day to ensure weight loss.

To loose weight you need to ensure you are in calorie deficit. This means BMR + Calories Burnt - Calories consumed = your expected weight loss

e.g if your BMR  is 1500 and you burnt 800 calories through exercise and at 1200 calories your equation would be

1500 + 700 - 1200 = 1000

Therefore you would be in deficit of 1000 calories  for that day. If you did this every day for 7 days you would be on track to loose 1kg a week.

In order to loose a kilo you need to be in a calorie deficit of approximately 7000 calories.
That is a lot of calories you need to cut down on and burn to loose 1 kilo. No wonder weight loss is so hard.

Please don't  let these numbers scare you.

When Teneale was in the house she freaked out by these numbers and tried to ignore it, but knew in order to loose weight she needed to get her head around it.
Dave ( David Dobbie) was the king of calculations in the house. He could estimate how many kilos he was going to loose each week to 0.1 of a kilo and his success throughout the show demonstrates how important this can be.

It is something we all need to be aware of in order to lose weight and keep it off. It makes you appreciate every mouthful of food as you know just how hard excess calories are to burn off.

So what exercises work best to burn calories?

We have included an Exercise Calorie Expenditure Chart to give you an overview of what exercise burns how many calories. However keep in mind the best exercise for calorie burning is the exercise you enjoy. You need to find something you can stick with and make sure you have fun while your doing it.

Let us know your thoughts on this and whether there is anything else you need to know to get your calculations right !

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