How To Lose Weight For Your Wedding

One of the first things on a bride’s mind after she becomes engaged is likely to be how she is going to look in a bridal gown. Most brides aim to lose a bit of weight before they get married, even those that are fairly slim to begin with. Unfortunately, many brides decide to starve themselves before the wedding to get the look they want, only to pile weight back on after the honeymoon.

Wedding dress plaza recommends that to lose weight effectively and keep it off, you need to look at making long term lifestyle changes, rather than going on a short term diet. You should look at the following five areas and see where you can make gradual changes:

1.  What you eat. Keep a food diary detailing what you eat each day and see where you can substitute healthy alternatives to foods that are high in calories.

2.  How much you eat. One of the simplest ways to lose weight is to cut down your portion sizes. Serve food on smaller plates and only eat until you feel full, not until you feel bloated.

3.  When you eat. Do you eat a large meal late in the evening? Perhaps you could consider eating a larger lunch and just having a light snack in the evening. Make sure you aren’t skipping breakfast, and try to avoid snacks between meals.

4.  What you drink. Do you regularly drink alcohol, sugary fizzy drinks or hot drinks with milk and sugar? Try to cut down on these and look for healthier alternatives such as fruit teas. Make sure you drink six to eight glasses of water every day.

5.  How you exercise. Find a form of exercise you enjoy, whether it is a brisk walk in the park or a dance class, and make sure you do it for an hour at least twice a week.

Weight loss timescale

Many brides leave it too late to start losing weight, resulting in crash dieting or near starvation in the weeks leading up to the wedding. To lose weight but stay healthy, your lifestyle and fitness regime should start around eight months before the wedding. You can safely lose around a kilogram a month and you should aim to reach your target weight about two months before the big day ready for your final dress fitting.

Tips for losing weight and keeping it off

Set a target weight and keep a weekly record of how your weight loss is progressing. Indicate milestones along the way and give yourself a little treat each time you reach one. Maintain your record after the wedding so you can see if the weight is staying off and give yourself a treat each month if you stay within a set weight range.

Flick through a wedding magazine and choose a photo of a bride you would like to look like. Pin it to your fridge door or store cupboard to remind you to think twice when you’re reaching for that snack food. Once you’re married, replace the photo with one of you on your wedding day to remind you how great you looked.

Joining a weight loss group, or finding a friend to lose weight with will keep you motivated and will make sure you weigh yourself regularly so the weight can’t creep back on without you noticing. Letting friends and family know you are trying to lose weight will stop them tempting you with sweet treats.