- Eat, eat, eat.
Make sure you are eating enough. I know it is easy to not eat during the day or think that if you don’t eat a lot of food (eat less calories) that you can keep the weight off. Actually, starvation is not a quick fix to weight loss. I’m telling you to pick up your fork and grub! Start by making sure you are eating breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, and dinner. Rev up your metabolism and get your body ready to burn calories.
- Grab your walking shoes
Look for ways to add a few extra steps to your day – park farther away from the shopping center, walk around your office building during your 15 minute break, or dust off your treadmill in the morning before work. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. Did you know that you can break up the 30 minutes into 3, 10 minute sessions? Now exercising seems easier to do. It is also as easy as walking. You don’t even need to get a gym membership, just a comfortable pair of shoes.
- Add some weights
Weights help to increase your metabolism so your body is working harder to burn calories. If you are wearing a sleeveless dress, easy arm exercises can help to shape things up.
- Make smart choices
You probably know the difference between what is healthy and what is not.
Some examples of unhealthy options and healthier solutions are below:
- Eating fast food a few times a week is probably not that healthy – try packing your lunch or thinking of quick dinner options that you can make at home.
- Having French fries with your meal is probably not that healthy – try a salad or a side that is not fried or filled with fat.
- A double shot mocha, extra whip doesn’t equal breakfast – choose a larger meal like English muffin, lean turkey sausage or veggie sausage, and top it with an egg and cheese. This meal will fuel you for your day. A cup of coffee with creamer is better than your mocha packed with sugar and fat.
- Just say no to sweets
If you are like me and have a sweet tooth, try not to even have the sweets in your house. When at the store, don’t be tempted to buy a bag full of candy or chocolate. If you can’t resist, buy the smallest bar of chocolate you see and break it up into bite size pieces to eat for the whole week. If your fiancé likes to go out for ice cream or to keep cookies at his house, ask him if he can help you with your healthy choices and hide the cookies or not have them in the house for the next few months.
- Read labels
This can be confusing but very helpful with portion control. Turn over a bag of chips and read the label. If it says, blank servings per bag, this means that there are x number of servings to equal the calories, fat, sugar, etc. A large size bag of chips may say the bag contains 2 servings, so if you finish the whole bag you will have eaten the calories amount listed in the nutritional panel times 2. Sometimes I like to grab the serving amount and put the bag back in the cabinet so I don’t eat the whole bag. If a bag of pretzels is 100 calories for 16, then I take out 16 pretzels, put the bag back in the cabinet, and then start snacking. Also, read the label for the amount of sugars and fats. If you are trying to decide between 2 different yogurts, turn both of them over and go with the one with less sugar and fat.
- Stop when you are full
When you start to have that full feeling, put down your fork. A few extra bites equals extra calories. These extra calories can add up each day. If you are hungry after your meal, try a healthy snack like fruits or vegetables or a low sugar (less than 7 g of sugar) granola bar.
- Don’t get discouraged
Keep up the good work you are doing. Even if you don’t see the weight change on the scale, know that you are making positive choices now. Look at losing the weight like a seed you plant in the ground. You can’t see what the seed is doing in the ground, but you still water it and fertilize it, and then one day, after all of your hard work, you start to see a little green leaf. So, keep doing all the work because eventually you will see results.
- Watch what you drink
You can easily decrease the amount of calories you consume by watching what you drink. Try to stay away from sugary soda, juices, and coffee drinks. During the time you are engaged, go for water, iced tea, or only try to have a soda once a week. With juice, look for something that doesn’t have sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or sucrose in the ingredients. Many juices have natural sugar because sugar is in fruit. If you like naturally sweetened juices, try mixing half juice and half water. Also, watch the amount of alcohol you drink since alcohol contains calories too. This is an exciting time and friends and family will want to take you out to celebrate. Just think about the extra calories and how you will look on your wedding day if you only have one glass of wine instead of two.
10. Get the size dress that fits
So this really isn’t a tip to stay in shape, but it is something that will help with your weight loss journey. Think realistically about what size you will be when you order your dress. It is ok to say that you will only lose 5 pounds vs 15 pounds. If you are realistic about your goals, then you will be happier weeks before your wedding when you realize that your wedding dress fits perfectly!
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