Quick wedding weight loss in just two months

Before you begin your wedding weight loss plan

One important point before you get started on your wedding weight loss plan – if you have not exercised for any length of time, have any medical conditions or if you are at all unsure about beginning an exercise plan,  consult your doctor first to get the all-clear.

Planning your exercise and nutrition plan

Before you rush into your new exercise and nutrition weight loss plan, take a little time out to plan ahead. Yes, your wedding may be your target date, but set other small milestones along the way to measure your progress. Without sufficient planning, you are likely to fall by the wayside when other demands, especially wedding planning, take up the bulk of your time.

Nutritional tips for wedding weight loss

At the heart of any effective health and fitness scheme is a balanced healthy eating and hydration plan. If you don’t factor in your nutrition as part of your weight loss plan, you’re effectively moving two steps forward and one step back. Follow our six nutritional tips below for simple, effective strategies to improve your diet ahead of the wedding and beyond:

Always eat breakfast

Kick-start your body’s engine with a low fat, slow energy release, unrefined start to the day. Oats made with skimmed milk and topped with either fresh or dried fruit is ideal. Alternatively, try poached or boiled eggs with whole meal bread.

Hydrate well

Drink plenty of water and natural juices. Central heating, air conditioning, nutrition choices, exercise and daily loss of fluids from the body all contribute to dehydration. Aim for two litres (approx 70fl oz) spread throughout the whole day to help you feel more energised, flush away toxins and improve your complexion, so you’ll look great on the big day.

Limit your intake of processed food

Aim to eat an unrefined, whole-food diet with as much fresh produce as possible. That way you’re automatically eliminating food manufacturers’ high fat and high sugar products.

Take the '20 per day test’

How many different (and healthy!) foods have you eaten today? Many people struggle to get past ten; aim for 20 and make sure they’re all healthy. That way you’ll know that you’re getting a broad range of nutrients in your diet.

Limit or avoid salt

Salt and sodium are known contributors to high blood pressure. Processed foods in particular are laden with salt, with some ready-made soups containing more than half the recommended adult salt intake! Salt is the cheapest flavour enhancer available so it’s a favourite with food manufacturers. Instead, enhance your foods with herbs and spices.

Eat evenly throughout the day

Many people limit their food intake during the day and consume a large meal in the evening — often late at night. Instead, try evenly spacing your food out throughout the day — you’ll feel better, have more energy and you’ll be less tempted to eat high calorie quick energy snacks.

The wedding weight loss workout

If your aim is quick weight loss for your wedding and honeymoon, then our weight loss workout should deliver the results you want fast — provided you put the work in.

Cardiovascular (CV) exercise

Increasing your levels of cardiovascular exercise is central to the quick weight loss plan — as well as bringing you a whole host of health and fitness benefits, including: Easier weight management Simply put, you burn calories so it is the number one strategy for losing the unwanted pounds. Toning-up Everyone wants toned legs and CV exercise is the fast-track route. The most effective types of CV exercise use the legs — because that is where your largest muscles are, so an additional benefit is improving leg muscle tone.

Building a strong heart and lungs

Having a strong engine is of huge importance for all round good health. In addition, you will find everyday tasks easier, able to tackle each day with increased energy and vitality.

What sort of CV exercise should I do?

Any exercise that gets your heart rate going and makes you out of breath is good. Walking, jogging, running, skipping, rowing, cycling, CV machines at the gym — all will train your heart and lungs and bring about all the CV benefits above. Top CV exercises are the weight-bearing activities such as walking, jogging and running because you will burn more calories as you are supporting the whole of your body weight.

How long should I exercise for?

To fast-track your fitness aim to build up to completing five CV sessions per week. Walking a mile burns approximately 100 calories. So if your target is to lose half a stone, at a rate of one pound per week (0.45kg), you are looking at burning off 3,600 calories each week. To achieve that burn you can use a combination of resistance training, CV exercise and diet, for example: Walking a couple of miles to work and back, five days a week need only take 35 minutes and adds up to half of your calorie loss straight away!

Resistance training

Resistance training is both a calorie burner and is the best way to tone-up specific areas. The most popular areas to target for that ‘get in shape look’ are: stomach, obliques, thighs, underside of upper arms, rear and core.

Stomach exercises

To tone upper stomach muscles try sit-ups and crunches. For lower stomach muscles try V-sit leg extensions. For obliques (sides of the abdomen) try oblique crunches on a stability ball.

Thighs and rear exercises

Any aerobic activity which uses the legs such as cycling, walking, jogging, running and rowing.

Underside of upper arms

Any tricep exercise, for example: tricep dips, tricep extensions or tricep kickbacks.

Core exercises

Core exercises train your inner postural muscles. These muscles aren’t visible but are fundamental to holding you in and keeping you upright. Good core exercises include: the plank, sitting completely upright on a stability ball and the stability ball floor bridge.

How much resistance training should I do?

Start slowly with a single weekly session but aim to build up to two sessions per week. Always allow at least two days rest in between sessions in order to allow time for your body to recover, adapt and grow stronger.

How many times should I complete an exercise?

Frequently, advice is given that to tone-up muscles, lots of repetitions with light weights are necessary. This advice is suitable for basic maintenance but to reactivate dormant muscles, challenging the body with fewer repetitions using a higher weight will bring about quicker and more improved results. Therefore the optimum number of repetitions would be: Resistance exercises (triceps, obliques and stomach) — build-up to completing three sets of 12 repetitions, with a 60 second recovery between sets. Core exercises — build-up to holding each exercise for 60 seconds.

Conclusions about the wedding weight loss workout

Nothing worthwhile is achieved without some sacrifice and effort is something of a cliché but one that holds true. By making an effort to getting in shape ahead of the wedding, in terms of time spent exercising and sacrificing any unsuitable foods in your diet — you can really achieve something worthwhile. Whether it is weight loss, toning up or a combination of the two, by following the above wedding weight loss plan you can achieve your goals just in time for your wedding day.