Toning up and slimming down for your wedding
Ah, a topic of interest (and possibly trepidation) for many brides … and grooms, too. I know my fiancee has a dress she bought 20 years ago that she wants to fit into by our wedding day. And although I don’t have a certain outfit I need to squeeze into, like most guys, I have an unspoken vanity about my body and weight and would love to be able to take off my shirt without sucking in my stomach.
My fiancée and I are getting married in November, and we both are trying to tone up for the wedding. A few years ago, we both decided that we were getting a bit too lumpy (we both work 10-hour days and are almost obsessively busy) and decided we needed to make a lifestyle change or we were going to end up like some of the contestants on The Biggest Loser (which, incidentally, is a fantastic and inspiring TV show). So we signed on with a personal trainer friend of mine.
Within a few months, we both were in the best shape of our lives, but not without some sacrifice and fatigue. Over the last year, we have stuck with the program pretty well, but have fallen off a bit recently. But the great thing is that we have the tools and knowledge be learned from our trainer and are putting them to use to start toning ourselves for our wedding.
So what did we learn from our training regimen? If I was doing it all over again, here’s what I would do:
1. If you can afford it, hire a trainer to set up a program for you and then have them work you out for a month or two - After a couple months, you pretty much know the routine and can do it yourself once you start to see results (a motivating factor).
2. If you can’t afford to hire a trainer, consult books written by trainers and create your own routine – Often people go to the gym with the grand intention of putting in a long, sweaty workout but instead walk on the treadmill for half an hour. This won’t get it done, so make sure you have a strenuous routine mapped out before you hit the gym, and vary it up (see Step 3). You need to at least have 20-30 minutes of high-intensity cardio and another 20-30 minutes of weight/resistance training to start to see results … and don’t let anyone tell you any different.
3. Don’t starve yourself while working out - There’s lots of places online where you can find healthy meal plans. Just make sure you get enough to eat, because your body won’t burn off as many calories if it’s in starvation/conservation mode. And take it from us … not eating enough while you are working out strenuously makes you very, very grumpy (also bad for a relationship). We found smaller mealtime meals and lots of protein-heavy snacks helped keep us happier.
4. Mix it up - We found that doing the same exercises every time you work out makes the gym seem like a task. So mix up your exercises … take an aerobic or boot camp class, ride your bike, take a jog, swim, play basketball, whatever.
5. Incorporate lifting into your routine - I know I’m a guy, and guys are supposed to like lifting weights, but I’ve always hated it (and I never had an aspiration to be one of those muscle-bound steakheads you see at the gym lifting like 500 lbs over their heads). But I started lifting lower weights at higher reps, and it makes lifting more of an aerobic activity. And lifting weights is proven to help drop fat and increase muscle mass.
6. Do it together - I think this was the main reason why we have stuck with our program. We started exercising together, learned all the routines from our trainer, ate the same healthy kinds of food, and generally were there to kick each other’s butt when somebody said “Screw this. I’m sore, so I’m going to skip today.”
Jeff Kear is co-owner of My Wedding Workbook, the next-generation free online wedding planner and organizer that’s comprehensive, easy-to-use and helps brides-to-be easily organize and manage all their wedding details, including budgets, guest lists, calendars, RSVPs, gifts and more.
Submitted by Jeff Kear, www.myweddingworkbook.com
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