The First Kilo

You can't lose 20kg if you don't know how to lose 1kg, true? The first kilo is the hardest to lose for some. In order to lose fat, we need to have a few things in place. This first kilo is often the most draining, and leads to "Is that it?" when we jump on the scales. That's why I encourage you to make your first weight loss goal 1kg, and then reassess once you reach that. This way, if our new habits & efforts don't turn out to be what we thought they would... it's just a kilo. Instead of going HAM at a 20kg goal, not getting it right the first time, and then never wanting to try again.

Imagine losing the first kilo in the first week, and not needing to change a single thing? You don't need to imagine it.

In this post, I'm going to do a bit of a deep dive into how to lose the first kilo and as many kilos as you want after that. I'll discuss the mental checklist you should keep, and I'll give you some simple steps that you can implement RIGHT NOW.

Tell Someone You Trust & See A GP

This is step one, and it's the easiest step you'll take. If you're an independent person and feel negatively about sharing your plan with someone close, then don't do it. However, sharing your intention has more power than you think. "Hey ****, I want to...". Doing this isn't asking for permission or bragging. If you have a supportive circle, a simple message telling them what you want for yourself can be the difference between them convincing you to spoil your progress because they think something is wrong, and them encouraging you to stick to your goals. It's also a great way to stay accountable, because if you have good friends you're bound to get a check in message asking how it's all going.

Seeing a GP before embarking on your weight loss journey is for two reasons. Reason 1 is that our bodies aren't made to be in a deficit permanently and weight loss can place stress on us. It's never a bad idea to get a better idea of where your health is at before you go changing it.

Reason 2 is to weed out any excuses before you give yourself the chance to cling onto them. When things don't go our way, human nature is to blame blame blame. In the world of weight loss, we blame potential medical conditions that we find on Google. So... instead of allowing yourself to blame a medical condition after 3 days of doing nothing you said you would do, get tested. If you suspect you may have insulin resistance, diabetes or other conditions that may make your journey harder, find out before you start.

Now that another person/s knows what you want for yourself & you can't blame a rare disorder that you definitely don't have, it's time to get down to business. I'm going to give you the simplest outline of how to lose weight, and I promise if you do it for one week, you'll notice a change.

Fat Loss Simplified

In my opinion, the most important part of losing the first kilo is understanding how we lose a kilo. Instead of just blindly following my advice, understanding my advice will put you ahead right from the start. So how do we lose fat?

Well there's a simple equation. Energy expended < Energy consumed = fat loss. Food is energy for us, and we use that energy everyday by sitting / standing / walking / digesting / breathing / ANYTHING. Even though we use energy everyday, if we consume more energy than we can get rid of, it leads to weight gain. So in order to lose that first kilo, we need to flip this around.

Flipping this around is called a Calorie Deficit (expending more than we consume). The biggest misconception is that the only way to create a calorie deficit is by eating less. We can create a deficit by consuming less calories, expending more energy, but most people do both.

So if Sally *EXAMPLE* eats 2800 calories per day, works 9-5 in her chair, doesn't exercise, and has put on weight... she is in a calorie surplus AKA gaining weight. If Sally reduced her calorie intake, stood while at work, went for a walk in the morning or afternoon, and maybe joined a gym class once per week, Sally would be well on her way to changing her life and losing weight. You can see here, that I didn't once mention calorie restriction and excessive exercise.

So if you're wanting to lose fat, we need to create a deficit.

Creating A Deficit

Creating a deficit, like I mentioned, isn't just about restricting yourself and only eating lettuce. There are a few steps we can take to create a healthier lifestyle that happens to put us in a deficit along the way. Step one is finding out what your deficit would be, and James Smith has a great calculator online that gives you rough number.

Say the calculator spits out 2000 calories. What the hell does that mean? It means that consuming 2000 calories per day, regardless of your exercise regime, will likely lead to weight loss. I use the word likely because an online calculator cant be accurate 100% of the time. However, don't give it 24 hours and then decide it's wrong. Give it a couple of weeks of consistency and then reassess.

So your first step is consuming 2000 calories per day or less. You can do this with or without calorie tracking. If you decide to not calorie track, you need to be a bit more lenient with timeframes.

Now that you know how many calories to consume, let's add some exercise into the mix. It's important not to look at your training as a weight loss method. Training is done to take care of our bodies, support healthy ageing, provide mental release and simply create a healthier lifestyle. It just so happens that exercise contributes to our deficit as it uses energy. So pick your poison; walking, running, gym training, HIIT classes, pole dancing, karate etc. Decide how much time you can commit to exercising and then we'll jump into some planning.

Plan Ahead

Don't leave your progress in the hands of whatever mood you wake up in each day. Without a plan, you're relying on yourself to create and implement ways to reach your goals every morning when all you want to do is stay in bed. If there's anything I've learnt, it's that my Sunday afternoon self is my only self that should be responsible for planning my week. Not my 'Monday 5am fuck this shit' self, and certainly not my 'Tuesday afternoon fuck we still have 3 days left of this shit' self.

Planning ahead doesn't need to mean having a commitment for each hour/minute of the day. It's just about identifying the path of least resistance. Instead of planning to get up every morning at 4am to run when you hate the mornings, find a few times that suit you and your preferences best.

Decide how many times you're going to exercise in the next 7 days, and for how long. I would recommend 3-4 times, for 20 minutes to 1 hour. Huge range I know, but you're still figuring out what works best for you, and remember that exercise is there to create a healthier lifestyle not burn calories.
Add them into your calendar and make them non-negotiable. "Should we go for drinks?" "I've got a meeting tonight, sorry". YEAH A MEETING WITH MY HEALTH, BITCH
Write down a few meal ideas, and do the groceries for the week on day one. If you leave dinner up to your post-shit day at work self, Uber Eats will definitely get a booty call.
Send a screenshot to the trusted friend. Tell them you really want to achieve what you've planned and ask them to hold you accountable.

Putting It All Together

You've got a rough calorie target, you're going to try and exercise 3 - 4 times this week There's one last thing I want you to do to bring all of this together, and that is... look at your incidental exercise.

I want you to look at your activity levels that have nothing to do with training. This is stuff like standing at work, walking to get a coffee instead of driving, walking on your lunch break, finding a coworker instead of emailing them in the office etc.

Outside of work, look at how active you are in the morning or evening. Go for a night stroll around the block, or find 20 minute podcasts and make it a goal to walk as far as possible before the podcast finishes.

This is where I leave you.

Your Big First Week

Look at your week. You've got 7 days planned and a long list of intentions.

You've got some meal ideas and you're going to do the groceries and cancel your date with Uber Eats
You've set aside 3-4 times to exercise
You've got a calorie target that is going to guide you for the next 7 days
You're going to be a little bit more active before, during & after work to increase your incidental exercise

If you did all of this, you would fully expect to lose weight, right? I would too. Putting all of these steps in place is the simplest way to lose your first kilo. If it works for the first, it'll work for all the kilos after that too.

You might be thinking - "Maddy, what if it doesn't work?". Look at your calories. If you're not losing weight, you're simply not in a calorie deficit so you need to A) Reduce your calorie intake B) Increase your activity or C) Both.

My final piece of advice is this. Don't bash this advice until you actually try. In my experience, I've seen how much people love shitting on simple advice, because they love acting like everything is harder for them and they're the exception to the rule. For the general population, weight loss really is as simple as finding time in our busy lives to move more, making some better choices with our nutrition, and creating healthier habits. If you're not the general population and suffer with a condition that inhibits all of this, please don't take offence and seek medical help.

Your coach & friend,

Maddy