Here are a few of my favourite sectins from Michelle Bridges book "Crunch Time".

Calories.......Eat more than you burn......you get fat
Burn more than you eat.......you get thin

Calorie Munchers
A 375ml Beer is around 150 calories
100g packet of chips around 500 calories
cappucino 100calories
Extra large blueberry muffin around 500 calories
One glass champagne 90calories
one Monte Carlo Biscuit 90 calories


To lose weight you need to be in calorie deficit
In order to lose 1/2 kg per week you need to be in deficit of around 3500 calories
In order to lose 1kg per week your calorie deficit needs to be around 7000 calories

"I see many people start off with the best of intentions, but then get sick a couple of weeks in. After that, the comeback is even harder than the first session and it all quickly falls apart." "People who haven't exercised in fifteen years will often get sick after the first few workouts because their bodies are so busy trying to repair themselves that their immune systems are compromised"
Since starting exercise I have had a very heavy flu and now, once again, I am battling a heavy cold! for someone who never usually gets sick this has been a shock! but after reading this I have put two and two together and can see that the effects of exercise have put my body into "repair" mode which may temporarily affect the immune system!

Aerobic Training
Once your body becomes accustomed to one kind of exercise, your calorie burning will plateau and you won't be able to drop as much weight.

Recent studies at the University of New South Wales have shown just how effective interval training really is, partly because it releases catecholamines that literally help singe the fat from your backside. From an exerciser's point of view, if you're told that you have to go hell for leather for thirty seconds and then you'll get thirty second's rest, you're more likely to rise to the occasion. By contrast, if you are told to go at the same intensity for a full hour, you'd probably baulk at the porposition and get a new trainer.