Shaping Up For Your Big Day 1282 views

Karen Ashton of personal training company Fitstop offers advice on getting fit and trim for your wedding day – and beyond.

Weddings are planned months – often years – in advance, with countless hours spent making sure the big day is perfect. You want your guests to feel spoiled, eat gorgeous food and have a wonderful day they’ll rave about for weeks after! But have you invested enough time and money in the most important thing of all – YOU? When your wedding day arrives, will you look and feel your best? Are there aspects of your health, fitness and general wellbeing you’d like to change?

If the answer is yes, now’s the time to take action. By building certain steps into your overall wedding plan, positive lifestyle changes can become easy, and even enjoyable. The most common change people want to make is to lose weight and, just as your wedding requires careful planning, successful, healthy weight loss is achieved by having a long-term view and taking small steps towards your ultimate goal.

But what exactly is that goal? Whether you’re having trouble defining it or need some help to achieve it, talking to a fitness professional can help. They’ll work with you to establish realistic, achievable aims specific to your circumstances, and will draw up a programme tailored accordingly. Mini-goals will be set, and your progress constantly monitored.

• Studies show that the most successful way to lose weight is by lifestyle change. This means assessing your life as a whole, setting yourself life goals and prioritising them.
• If you crash-diet, you may be delighted with the results in the first month, but what you’ve lost is mainly water and lean muscle tissue. This means you’re likely to put the weight back on quickly – plus your metabolism will be burning calories at a snail’s pace! For healthy, lasting results, aim to lose no more than two pounds a week.
• Drink two litres of water a day – it’ll help keep your body in harmony and encourage it to burn more calories. To help you remember, fill up a two-litre bottle and drink it over the course of a working day.
• Don’t stop eating – if you do, you’ll slow down your metabolism and your body will burn less calories. Eat little and often throughout the day to kick-start your metabolism and encourage calorie burning.
• Your diet should be made up of around 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein and 20% fat. All these nutrients are essential for your body to function correctly. Eating fruit and vegetables provides your body with essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
• Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. If you don’t consume sufficient calories first thing, you won’t have enough energy throughout the day and will snack more. A carbohydrate, protein and low-fat breakfast will enhance your mental and physical mood.
• When you eat, sit at a table and don’t have the TV on. Think about what you are eating, taste and enjoy your meal. Your stomach, mouth and brain are connected and it takes 20 minutes of chewing before your stomach signals to your brain that you are full. Eating in front of the TV encourages overeating.
• Start taking regular activity/exercise. If you usually drive the kids to school, walk. If you always take the lift, use the stairs. Just walking for 30 minutes a day is a great way to start. Have a think about other simple changes you can make to your daily life, so that you become more active.
• Vary your activity/exercise routine so you don’t get bored. There are so many ways to keep active. You could involve your friends and family, go to a class or join a club.
• If you’ve been going to the gym for a couple of months and see no changes, ask yourself if you’re doing the right type of exercise for the right amount of time, at the correct intensity in order to achieve your goals. If you’re not sure, seek advice from your gym instructor or a personal trainer, who can put together a programme that incorporates all these elements.

The better you feel about yourself, the faster and easier it’ll be for you to lose weight. When you are self-confident, you are better able to take charge of your life. It also means that once you lose weight, it’s more likely to stay off – a truly worthwhile goal for your new married life.

Fitstop are weight-management consultants and personal trainers. If you would like further information or to register for the free Fitstop Newsletter, please visit www.fitstopmk.co.uk or call Karen on 01908 367795.

Photos by kind permission of Karen Turner.

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