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I hardly ever do very personal posts on the blog, but so many of you have asked me to share the secrets of my “wedding weight loss” success, that I really thought I ought to get round to it. With some scary “before” and not so scary “after” wedding diet pictures, here we go…
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Check me out! What a difference!
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Like most girls, moving in with my hubby to be had caused me to pile on a few pounds here and there. I am tall, and carry extra weight well, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that my tummy was far too flabby for my leaner frame. After being on the skinny side for most of my life (ahem! despite a brief slip at University), I was now feeling more like skinny FAT. To me – a typical “apple” shape – this meant skinny legs and arms lacking definition, plus a lardy middle. Not a lovely sight.
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Here I am in my brand new exercise clothes, 6 months before my wedding… (eeks!) Excuse the iphone pictures, I wasn’t quite yet a blogger back then…
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Before: skinny fat, with little muscle tone, a flabby tummy, and a concerned expression on my face…
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I decided to take action. 6 months before my wedding, it was time to trim down. Plus, the bikini part of our honeymoon would be in Las Vegas and LA. Who wants to feel bad in a bikini when there are Playboy bunnies hanging out by the pool?
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Women’s magazines and the internet are full of fad diets and get skinny quick tips. I have read, tried and failed at almost all of them. It’s a cliche, but it’s true. How can a normal working woman survive on cayenne pepper, lemon juice and water for two weeks?
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A personal trainer would have been a great plan…if only I could afford it!
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The first thing I did – and I believe that this is the key to wedding diet success – I got REAL.
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I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stick to running on a treadmill for two hours a day, lettuce and fizzy water. I knew that I wasn’t going to end up looking like a Victoria’s Secret Model (although I was going to try to get as close as I possibly could!).
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What I did know (armed with plenty of actually useful knowledge from all those women’s magazines and the internet) was that being good with food choices 80% of the time, eating a bit less and exercising quite a bit more (than not at all) should work. And guess what… it’s not rocket science!
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After: Here I am five or six months later – flab gone, lots more muscle tone, and grinning from ear to ear!
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Beware! I am not a registered dietician, fitness expert or healthy living guru (and please consult your doctor before beginning any sort of exercise regime!) but this is simply what worked for me. Give it a go…!
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Let’s see those before and after shots again…
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Yay!
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So here is what I did…
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Exercise (and it was mostly exercise that did it!)
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The most important thing is to GET MOVING. I would normally say: pick an exercise you love, yadah yadah – but that’s fine for the long term girls, but not when you have a wedding deadline looming! Plus if I picked an exercise I loved I would need to live in the Alps.
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What I find works best, and I don’t think I am alone here, is to pull on your trainers (proper ones mind you – we don’t want any injuries) and get out there and go running. I never said it would be easy – but I do think it will work! I have to be the slowest runner of all time and I hate it with a vengeance. But I love the results.
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I headed outdoors to run, as it was more interesting and it was spring/ summer. What I would say though, is only ever run in a safe place when it is light outside. If possible, take a likeminded friend with you. What are fiances or maid of honours for?! However as I can be a bit of a b***h when I run (due to the hating it with a vengeance part) and alienating the hubby would have defeated the object, I went solo, but ditched the headphones so I was alert and only ran in public places.
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What I did was set a course that I knew would take me about 30 – 40 minutes to run if I were *run* the whole way. Then I covered that distance about 4 times a week. Sometimes I ran it, sometimes I jogged, sometimes I walked most of the way. I always got round though, and I always stuck to it.
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So:
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– Go running
– 3 or 4 x per week – schedule it in like a meeting you wouldn’t miss.
– Cover the distance planned, no matter how long it takes.
– Make yourself accountable – keep a diary or, better still (!) blog about it for the world to see!
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You might also want to add some weights. The jury is still out on whether lifting big and less reps, or light and more reps is best. I was confused, so I just did a few bicep curls now and again. The running seemed to melt the arm flab in any case.
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A diet that’s right…
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Just make healthier choices in smaller portions. You know a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar is worse for you than an apple. Use your head woman!
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Mostly:
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– Eat stuff that grows from the ground or falls from the trees and lots of it, to fill you up.
– Protein, protein, protein. And make it lean.
– Avoid “white” carbs like bread, sugar, white rice, potato crisps.
– Cut back on Mr Pinot and Mr Grigio.
– Don’t use food as a reward – plan other treats…I am sure you can think of some!
– Keep your portions reasonable. I try fill half my plate with salad or greens.
– Drink lots of water.
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And a bit of diddly dum…
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You are only human. Who cares if you miss a day or slip up?! Remember the 80% rule – you can be as bad as you like 20% of the time. Don’t be a diet bore. Enjoy your engagement, and love the skin you are in!
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Looking trim in my wedding dress with my parents! Photograph by David Lawson Studios
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And on our Honeymoon (not a Playboy bunny in sight! I was almost disappointed!)
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After spending all winter at my computer building Brides Up North, I think it may be time to follow some of my own advice…
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I hope this helps someone! Any questions at all, feel free to comment below or drop me a line. If you want to share your own success stories, let me know!
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Julia x
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This is not a sponsored post.
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