How much weight can I lose in ONE DAY ?? -

One of my clients asked me this question the other day…

How much body fat can I expect to lose (or gain) in one day?

What an interesting question. When I thought about it, its such a great way to look at things.

My answer…

Let’s assume that you have a day that is “on plan”. You move lots, you eat well, you even manage to get in a great exercise session. You achieve a “calorie deficit“. Realistically you could expect to lose approx. 100 – 300 grams of excess body fat during that day. Maybe slightly more if you have a lot of weight to lose.

As you can see, it takes lots of these days strung together to achieve your goal. (Her goal was 10kg weight loss)

On the other hand.

If you have a day that doesn’t quite go to plan. You ate more than you need (calorie surplus), you didn’t move much or manage to fit in an exercise session, then realistically you might expect to gain approx. 100 – 300 grams of body fat.

Not ideal, but certainly no disaster either.

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Below is a great visual from Sohee Lee to demonstrate how tiny little improvements can add up over time.

But Chriss, I have gained more than 1kg in a single day before…

Let’s assume that a regular day’s calorie intake for you is 1800. You would need to consume 8800 calories in ONE day (7000 extra) in order to gain 1kg of body fat. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could physically eat that much without being sick.

If you have gained 1kg on the scales, please know that a large portion of this is fluid.

It’s a temporary thing and nothing to stress about.

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Step by Step thinking

Good and Bad thinking

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A) Step by Step thinking

Imagine your goal is to lose 10kg’s in 12 weeks.
This goal needs 1000’s of tiny steps in the right direction to get there.

** I want you to actually visualise yourself on a road or a bridge travelling from point A (now) to point B (goal) **

Every small positive action takes you one tiny step closer to your goal.
Every negative action takes you one tiny step away from your goal
Non action leaves you on the spot
Take more steps forward than backwards and you will eventually get to your goal.

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Now lets compare that to…

B) Good and Bad thinking

You “go on a diet”
You are “good” for a few days, maybe a week.
You imagine that you must be close to your goal because you have been so “good” (when in actual fact, you are still a long way from goal, but you are definitely headed in the right direction)
You get frustrated and impatient
You do something “bad” (usually because you are frustrated and impatient)
You now imagine you have totally undone all of your “good” work and you are completely back at square one (when in actual fact, you have just taken one tiny step backwards)
You usually throw in a few more backwards steps because you believe you need to be 100% ON plan or you might as well go 100% OFF plan.

Can you see how crazy this is?

Oh, and just to complicate things even more.
You equate being “good” and “bad” with your moral worth.

I was a good (or bad) person today.
No, you just took some action steps either towards your goal or away from it. That’s all. You didn’t kick a kitten or rob a bank.

None of this has any impact on whether you are a good or bad person.

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I can see how the thought of 1000’s of tiny steps can seem daunting.

However…

When you take 10 steps forward you can be happy and celebrate a small win.
When you take 100 steps forward, you can be happy.
When you take 500 steps forward, you can be happy.
I hope you are happy with every step along the way, not just when you finally reach that goal destination

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Final FIT TIP from Chriss

Understand that weight loss or gain is primarily a numbers game.

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Your body is more like a bank account where everything IN and OUT counts

It’s not a test you either pass or fail.

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Repeat after me..

I will NO longer practice the “What the hell” effect.

If I have a slip up, I will NOT exacerbate it by continuing to consume more and more.

I will navigate back on course without beating myself up with guilt and shame.

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Want more coaching to change your habits?

I can help you – >>> COACHING WITH CHRISS <<<

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