Bridal Boot Camp

A few simple tips from our professionals to get you into the right mental and physical state to deal with the biggest day of your life.

If you're altar-bound right now, odds are that as you're playing with your soon-to-be new signature and agonizing over centerpieces, you're also considering what you'll look like to your nearest and dearest as they stare at your backside on your way down the aisle.

“My wedding day was the biggest and most important day of my life,” says Marija Denkov, “The secret to surviving the entire process is to have a plan.” Denkov considers herself somewhat of an expert on wedding planning. She has married twice, and has seen a good number of friends and family go through the process too.

When it comes to looking your best on your wedding day, there are three main things that both the bride and groom should focus on: their stress management, eating habits, and workout schedule.

“Stress is like one giant storm cloud, hanging over your every move. Everything underneath is overshadowed by a dark and overbearing gloom,” says Denkov. The first thought that comes to mind when hearing the words ‘wedding’ and ‘stress’ in the same sentence is the big day itself. In Hollywood movies, the bride paces around her room in her gown wondering if her fiancée will still love her in 10 years time, if her gown is really as beautiful as she first thought, and if she’s making a mistake. However the stress starts much earlier than your wedding day.

Stress can kick in as soon as five minutes after the proposal.

“The morning after I got engaged, I didn’t think about how happy I was going to be when married. Instead I thought of the 6 months ahead of heavy planning to make it absolutely perfect,” says Denkov. The first and most important tip for dealing with wedding stress that she gives is to find a happy place. “Somewhere you can go and grab a coffee or tea, sit and relax.” If you have your mind at ease, the rest of your body will follow.

Now, what is the single most important obsession in the wedding? The bride’s dress. At her first fitting, Denkov found her dream gown, but she bought it two sizes smaller to give herself motivation to get into better shape when she walked down the aisle. Eating right and making a workout schedule were recommended to her by friends.

“When it comes to eating right, the main thing to remember for both men and women is to avoid sugar and fake sweeteners,” says Kevin Curesma, a personal trainer for GoodLife Fitness. If you must have sugar with

your coffee or tea, brown sugar is the healthiest option. Some common pitfalls in healthy eating are not getting enough vegetables, drinking a big glass of orange juice in the morning, and chewing gum.

Eating enough vegetables isn’t how most people imagine it; eating an entire side plate of vegetables along with your regular meal. All it takes is a few tomatoes on your morning toast or some lettuce in your turkey sandwich for lunch. The glass of orange juice can ruin your eating habits for the entire day. The juice raises your blood sugar creating insulin, which in turn will cause you to get hungrier faster and overeat. “Another common thing that we all do is chew gum. Well stop it! Every time you chew you ingest air and that’s how you get a bloated stomach,” says Curesma.

Along with cutting these foods and drinks out, there are other foods that our experts say you should introduce. You’re going to structure your diet to include avocados, Greek yogurt, salmon, and almonds. These are healthy foods that will give you the “super foods” of weight loss and getting into shape. Super foods are nutritional powerhouses that help build bones, prevent chronic diseases, and keep your mind sharp. These eating habits apply to the groom as well. We want you to fit into your tuxedo so the bride doesn’t outshine you (even though you’ll have to let her).

“Now getting into your perfect outfit will take more than just eating healthy, you’ll need to exercise along the way,” says Andrea Chang, a nutritionist, “nothing too extreme, just a few helpful tips for the happy couple.”

For the lovely couple, what’s important is to make a routine that you will stick to for at least the last four months before your wedding day. It’s also important to get both cardio and muscle building in your routine, instead of just one or the other. Experts have found that short workouts, two to three 10 minute workouts everyday can be just as effective as longer workouts. “The key is to focus on intensity and use your time wisely. Try high impact activities like jogging and jumping rope,” says Curesma,” Try compound moves to work more than one muscle group.”

With these helpful tips from our experts, that tuxedo will fit tight on your shoulder to make you look like the handsome gentleman that you are, and the beautiful wedding dress will wrap around your waist like you’re 18 again. Good luck on your wedding day!

#nutrition #bootcamp #weddingday #bodyimage