If there is anything worse than the panic of realizing that you need to start losing weight for your wedding, it’s the debilitating pain of failure when you gain it all back when the celebration and the honeymoon is over.
I know so many brides who focus on looking thin and perfect for just one day; they spend months in a constant state of anxiety employing crash diets and punishing workouts to lose weight.
Brides end up frazzled and depleted on their wedding day. And when the deadline has past, the weight comes back like a bat out of hell.
There have been so many nights when I have been huddled on my couch shaking with tears of dismay about how I could have possibly let myself gain the twenty pounds back that I lost. How could I have been so weak, so out of control, so reckless?
I thought I was doomed to be fat forever, that I didn’t deserve to be thin. I have never felt so hopeless.
Now I employ unique, cutting edge lifestyle strategies and nutrition concepts that led me to lose weight and have complete confidence that I will never feel so defeated again.
Through my company, the Breathtaking Bride I am helping brides lose weight for their wedding and ensure that they will never feel that unbearable pain of failure again.
I am so excited to share with you my some of my best strategies for losing weight for your big day and keeping it off forever.
GET RID OF THE DEADLINE
Deadlines create WAY too much stress. Stress creates discomfort in our minds and bodies. When we have discomfort, we search for ways for relief. And the cheapest and easiest relief is rich, salty, sugary foods.
Lose the deadline and shift your focus on how to feel good everyday. Not only will you avoid having an absolutely miserable engagement, but you will be creating habits you can carry with you long after the wedding.
- Exercise to relieve stress in the moment
- Eat fruits and veggies to give you sustained energy
- Stop eating when your hunger has subsided (not when you are full) to avoid feeling bloated and nauseous
MAKE HEALTHY FOOD TASTE GOOD
People have this idea that healthy food is bland and unsatisfying. This is complete BS. Eating flavorful healthy food is not only incredibly satisfying and pleasurable when you are eating it, but you will also feel amazing after you eat it too.
Try these tips to make healthy food taste amazing:
- Instead of going for diet foods (like low-fat frozen yogurt and 100 calorie snacks) eat real, organic whole foods, which naturally taste better and support weight loss.
- Add delicious condiments to your veggies like sesame oil, tahini, salsa or chutney.
- Don’t give up your favorite foods like burgers and fries. Instead of going to your favorite diner, make burgers at home with organic meat, a whole wheat English muffin, avocado and your favorite condiments. Try baked sweet potatoes (just pop sliced potato with olive oil in the over at 350 degrees for 30 minutes).
STOP WORRYING ABOUT HOW YOU WANT TO LOOK, AND START THINKING ABOUT HOW YOU WANT TO FEEL.
It is very easy to get caught up in how much you want your clavicles showing, or how tight you want your arms to be, but being so focused on form can actually prevent you from losing weight.
You must create change from the inside out. This starts with having a very clear understanding about how you want to feel in your body on your wedding day- not just how you want to look.
Sit or lay in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Picture yourself in your white dress just moments before you walk down the aisle.
Hold the feeling of being in your ideal body and let emotion pour over you.
Now invite others into your visualization. Picture your friends’ and families’ heads slowly turning to look at you. What do their faces look like? What you see in them should be a perfect reflection of how you feel.
Do this whenever you get a chance, and your body will naturally gravitate towards this state. All of the healthy habits you are creating will fall into place with far less friction.
DO EXERCISE YOU ENJOY
When you put your body through intense stress from grueling workouts it actually prohibits you from burning calories. The stress sends your body into “fight or flight” mode, flooding your system with the hormone “cortisol” – an evolutionary survival mechanism causing you to retain fat around your abdomen.
Working out should be all about creating happiness because being happy actually increases your metabolism! How many times have you gone on vacation, eaten a ton of rich foods, but actually lost weight? It happens to me all the time. Enjoying your workouts will raise your metabolism and keep stress levels low.
You will love your new outlook on exercise so much, you will want to continue working out long after you tie the knot!
- Try dance, either in an organized class or buy a DVD (one of my favorites is the Luscious Belly Dancing DVD)
- Pilates is a great way to tone and relax simultaneously
- Check out S Factor: A pole dancing class focused on empowering women. It is one of best and most fun workouts I have ever had
- Join a work-out group in a local park. It is a great way to get fresh air, avoid gym crowds and meet new people.
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Your engagement should be one of the most exciting times in your life, embrace this amazing opportunity to build a lifestyle and create the breathtaking body that you have always dreamed of.
*originally published at Bella Life.com
And if you are working with an off-premise caterer, these are the kinds of questions they should be asking. Where do you like to eat? What is your background? What tastes do you love? Your menu is another way to express yourselves, and in some ways, it’s the most profound.. because it’s the one thing that everyone communally gathers around.
