Have you ever watched some of those bridal shows and cringe when the bride declares she wants to order her dress two sizes too small so she’ll be forced to lose weight? YUCK. Brides-to-be are constantly feeling the pressure to lose weight for their wedding day and this, of course, is horrible. I’m not sure where this idea comes from and how bridal-weight-loss became just as important as who is on the guest list and picking cake flavors.
This post is not going to tell you that you should lose weight – because you don’t need to! Your partner loves you just the way you are, promise! But, losing wight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle are two different things, and I do believe it’s important to take care of your body and stay in good physical shape.
I’ve put together a list of things I do to try to stay in shape and improve my health. Some of these things may work for you, and some of them may not! But all of these steps are better than a feeding tube diet or starving yourself to lose weight.
- Be active every day and exercise for 30 minutes three times a week. And what I mean by active is a quick walk or some hand weights or some stretching. It’s that easy! And three times a week, push yourself a little farther for 30 minutes with some jogging, yoga, or some other kind of cardio. My routine is: 10 minutes of stretching in the morning before I shower, a 10 minute walk around the block during my lunch break, and 10 minutes of yoga at night. Three or four times a week I’ll do a brisk walk or jog for 30 minutes to an hour. You don’t have to join a gym or do some crazy intense DVD workout! Just get out there and get active! This is especially important if you sit at a desk for eight hours a day at work, like I do!
- Set a fitness goal for beyond the wedding date. To give me something to think about other than wedding planning, I signed up to run a half marathon a couple months after our wedding day! And I’ve never been a runner! This new challenge not only forced me to train and get my body in shape, but it also gave me something else to look forward to when the wedding was over, helping me avoid the common post-wedding blues.
- Keep an eye on your calorie intake. I’m not talking about a diet of frozen grapes and edamame. But do you really pay attention to the labels on your food? I was super shocked when I started paying attention and discovered I was eating two-and-a-half servings of raisin bran every morning. Start reading labels and measuring your food and you’ll probably see a difference in your waistline. There’s a great free iPhone app called Lose It where you can type in your height and weight and it will tell you how many calories you need to take in each day in order to maintain your weight (or lose weight, if you really want to).
- Don’t deprive yourself; reward yourself! Set exercise goals for the week and when you reach them, reward yourself with some kind of dessert! Or save the sweets for when you reach a big milestone in your wedding planning, like booking that vendor you really wanted or getting your first RSVP. Treating yourself to small rewards during wedding planning will also make the process a lot more fun!
