Here are a few quick facts about losing a pound: It will make your jeans feel a smidge looser, it’s the equivalent of four sticks of butter (picture that for a second!), and it requires that you burn and/or cut a total of 3,500 calories. Sound like a lot? It adds up faster than you think.

To lose one pound in seven days you need to reduce your net calories by 500 every day. The easiest way to do that is a 250 split: Cut half from your diet and burn the other half through exercise. To come up with easy ways to do this, we enlisted trainer Heather Rider, founder and director of Rider Fitness Consulting in Los Angeles, and nutritionist Lauren Slayton, RD, of Foodtrainers in New York City. Choose one strategy from the diet and exercise columns each day (feel free to mix and match) and after seven days you will have cut out 3,500 calories. Losing four sticks of butter has never been such a cinch!

Diet Strategies

Replace your morning bagel and cream cheese with an English muffin and cottage cheese.

Skip the large bakery muffin in favor of 1 slice of whole wheat toast topped with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter.

Swap your large bran muffin for 3/4 cup of bran flakes.

Replace eggs and cheese with scrambled egg whites.

Replace your 450-calorie lunch with a 200-calorie protein shake.

Replace large french fries with a yogurt-and-fruit parfait.

Modify your lunch: Skip the cheese on your salad or sandwich, substitute mustard for mayo, and replace potato chips with soy chips.

Have half a tuna salad sandwich instead of a whole, plus two cups of raw vegetables.

Skip the cheese in an omelet and a lunchtime sandwich.

Switch from cream soup to vegetable-based soup at lunch and dinner.

Switch from one cup premium to light ice cream.

Skip your afternoon frozen yogurt with ground nuts.

Resist the handful of M&M’s at the receptionist’s desk.

Cut out 1 biscotti and 1 large mocha.

Switch from a chai tea latte to lemon tea.

Have 1 ounce of soy nuts instead of 3 ounces of roasted almonds.

Substitute a serving of beef with shrimp or a white flaky fish like cod at two meals.

Leave behind one-fourth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Have 1 cup of strawberries instead of a whole banana, and cauliflower instead of a baked potato with sour cream.

Replace ranch or blue cheese dressing with low-fat vinaigrette at lunch and dinner.

Have a vodka and soda instead of a margarita at happy hour.

Exercise Strategies

Jog at a 10-minute-mile pace for 20 minutes.

Alternate sprinting and walking for 20 minutes.

Walk briskly for 30 minutes.

Spin for 30 minutes at a moderate pace.

Go for a 20-minute trail run.

Do 1 hour of housework.

Walk 1 mile in the morning and 1 mile in the evening.

Do 35 minutes of power yoga.

Do 35 minutes of Pilates.

Practice tai chi for 45 minutes.

Perfect your swing at the driving range for 60 minutes.

Practice capoeira (a Brazilian mix of martial arts and dance) for 30 minutes.

Hit a punching bag for 30 minutes.

Go in-line skating for 15 minutes.

Shovel snow for 30 minutes.

Ice-skate vigorously for 30 minutes.

Run up stairs for 15 minutes.

Jump rope for 20 minutes.

Do 25 minutes of circuit training.

Dance for 40 minutes.

Play Frisbee for 1 hour.

Wash windows for 1 hour.

Use a pedometer and log an extra 3,600 steps.