Aaah, “Bridal fitness”. Like losing weight for New Year’s, weddings are one of those arbitrary events that seems to get everyone panicking about losing weight. This is what I have learned during my wedding planning process:
Don’t overdo it
Seriously. When I was in the early stages of wedding planning, I would go to the gym and do the stair machine on the highest resistance for an hour at a time, with a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue propped up to motivate me. “I’m going to look great in my wedding dress!!” I said to myself as I pushed through these hard workouts. And you know what happened? I dislocated both of my kneecaps on that stair machine from pushing myself too hard, and had my mobility limited to the point of not being able to walk properly for years. The irony? That actually caused me to have to postpone my wedding, since I was in a wheelchair at one point and spent all my savings on medical expenses.
Don’t overstretch yourself
Be kind to yourself with your hectic wedding schedule, because you may find yourself feeling tempted to burn both ends of the candle taking care of wedding errands and trying to squeeze in workouts around it. Now that my knees have recovered and I actually can work out again, I’ve found myself too pressed for time to hit the gym. I’ve dealt with this by doing workouts at home – currently, I’m an ambassador for Total Gym and before that I was following along with YouTube workout videos in my living room. When Good Earth Tea sent complimentary tea for Jaime’s bachelorette Tea Bar, they also forwarded the the link to these BUTI fitness workouts inspired by their Cocoa Tango tea. Yes, a workout inspired by tea! It’s a full 37 minute workout, so this could helpful if you’re looking for free fitness videos to follow.
Remember what matters
Exercise for your own sake and your own health. Like all other areas of wedding planning, it’s easy for weight loss expectations to get out of control, and there is sadly so much pressure put on women regarding their appearance. I feel that pressure too despite knowing better – as evidenced by my ridiculous story of how I injured myself – but I’m trying to focus in what really matters.
What tips do you have for brides (Or anyone!) wanting to approach working out in a balanced way?
