Wedding day weight loss: What you need to know
Are you considering weight loss for a wedding? Getting married can be a big catalyst to start off a weight loss journey for many, and can help to signal a lifestyle change, as you begin married life with healthy intentions.
It’s one of the milestone occasions in our life, and definitely one of the most photographed – if ever there was a day you wanted to look and feel your best, it would be your wedding.
You have all the motivation you need, but how do you make practical changes to help you stay on track, especially if you only have a short time before the big day? Are you going abroad or maybe just eloping in the UK? What size dress are you aiming for?
Avoid Crash Diets
It’s important to approach weight loss in a healthy and sustainable way rather than falling for crash diets. Jumping straight into a severely calorie-restricted diet will likely enhance your anxiety at a time that can already be stressful.
You may see an initial drop, but that will all be water weight, and in the longer term, on an extremely low-calorie diet, your body will start conserving fat and using up muscle, which is very bad news.
If fat loss is your goal, then the best method is to build muscle. Pound for pound, the more of your body composition is a muscle, the more calories you will burn even when you’re at rest.
Set Simple Goals
If you’ve had quite an organised and strategic approach to planning your wedding, then aim to carry that over into your plan for weight loss.
Set yourself a clear and achievable weekly goal, find some great healthy recipes that you will enjoy preparing and eating, and find ways to get more exercise into your daily routine – whether that is going running with your dog in the morning, or taking time away from your desk with a lunchtime walk outdoors.
Use The Power Of Apps
So many apps can aid your weight loss journey and help you stay on track – all from your pocket.
My Fitness Pal has a huge database of foods listed, making it super easy to track what you’re eating by scanning a barcode, while apps like Sweat offer workouts you can do anytime, anywhere.
A goal-setting app can also help you to be clear about what you want to achieve and why.
Use an online calorie counter to calculate how many you need per day in order to drop weight in the time frame you have available, and always favour the slow and steady approach if you want to keep your new figure beyond the honeymoon.
Set up a WhatsApp group with your bridesmaids to help keep you accountable and on track with your plan – before you know it, it will be your wedding and you’ll be gliding down the aisle as the best version of yourself!