We’re introducing a new blog series where we’ll take one of the many DMs that lands in our inbox and share our response (and flesh her out a tad). Want in? DM us here.
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Q.
Hey ladies, just wondering if you have any advice on losing weight for your wedding? I have my wedding coming up in February. In need of some serious motivation and it’s stressing me out, even though I know it shouldn’t be a main focus for me.
– @J.
A.
Hi J,
Ah, the old #wedshred. Many women and men plan to lose a few kg’s in the lead up to their wedding. Makes sense – you want to feel fit, trim and confident in front of the camera. We’ve been there and we’d be lying if we said we hadn’t felt some pressure to ‘get in shape’ (whatever that means exactly?!).
In hindsight, we wish we’d spent a little less time being yelled at to ‘squat lower’ and more time writing our wedding speech (a word to the wise: don’t leave it until the day of) and just thinking about life post-wedding.
You see, a wedding is a time when people (women in particular) are bombarded with even more than the usual stupid amount of pressure deliberately designed to make us feel insecure and buy things. This includes diet programs, cure-all lotions to make us look like a walking Instagram filter and adorable outfits for the day-before/wedding day/day-after/honeymoon. But we say whoa, Silver. Hold your horse.
You want to look hot and feel f*cking fire on your wedding day. It’s true. But to say it is a pressurised, fraught situation for some is a goddamn understatement. Especially if you’ve ever struggled with body image issues or disorders in your past.
Our advice before you spend hours sifting through the Google results for ‘how do I lose weight before my wedding’ ?
It is just a day. Don’t let it take over your life. You are more than how you look at your wedding.
Do what makes you feel good. Move your body, eat well… but also drink the wine. Eat dessert if you want to. Don’t deprive yourself of joy in the lead-up to your wedding, because that lead-up can be really long! #didsomeonesaypostponement?
You are a gorgeous creature and your lovely partner wants to marry the ‘today you’, not some sliver of your former self.
You do you here, but do it in a way that doesn’t stress you out and that’s sustainable. The last thing you want to do is yo-yo all the way up to your wedding as you’ll be unhealthily focused on scales when really you ought to be enjoying yourself and this loved-up period. If it helps to be accountable to someone, pick a healthy friend, tell them your goals and perhaps see if they’ll join you for the ride (both figuratively and literally – cycling will give you some seriously toned pins).
Wedding weight loss is an amazingly good quality first-world problem, so whacking some perspective on the situation will help you get on with more important wedding planning, such as if it is OK to drink Champagne every time you look at your wedding budget. Which it totally is.
With love,
Amy.
__
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