All eyes will be on you and your partner on your wedding day. Photo / Getty Images
By Scott Laidler for The Daily Telegraph UK
There's nothing like seeing a couple who feel confident in their own skin. We all know the pressure of the wedding day - the bride and groom are centre stage and centre of attention, photographed and peeked at from all angles of the room. It's a lot of attention to deal with; pull it off, and they will instantly put the rest of the congregation at ease.
For that reason, I'd like to outline a fitness plan that provides brides-and-grooms-to-be with a feeling of confidence and a sense of body positivity. I'm not saying you want to be stick thin - that's 100 per cent not the goal here - just that you feel happy and at ease in your own skin come the big day.
There's a lot out there on this subject already. Have a Google: you'll find reams of articles that purport to be '14 day wedding fitness plans' and will have tips like 'on day one, have a healthy snack' or 'on day six, get planking - it will tone your stomach', well, wishful thinking, I'm afraid.
Getting in shape is a lifestyle decision that will impact many facets of your life over a period of months and years. Swapping the Jaffa cakes out for some almond nuts at 11am a day is a good start, but it's not going to make a difference on its own. And certainly not if you've only done it for two weeks.
My background as a personal trainer is in rapid body transformation. I work on Hollywood film productions, and with online clients all over the world. The same principles we use in those scenarios apply here. We need a wedding fitness plan with the same level of detail - and that means stress reduction plans as much as it does sweaty physical exercise regimes. What it doesn't mean is ...
1: Extreme dieting. I've seen some crazy extreme weight loss diets that are pushed on brides-to-be, often with a caloric intake of less than 1,000 per day. The result is extreme water and muscle loss, which leads to feeling awful in the run up to your wedding and looking drawn and feeling depleted on the day. Don't do it!
2: Focusing purely on isolation exercises. Much of the advice you'll see on workout plans is to focus on the muscles that'll be visible in your dress, like your triceps and shoulders. That is important - but you'll have a really hard time firing up your metabolism and shifting fat while training only your triceps. Total body workouts are the order of the day.
3: Starting too late. I would advise starting 12-13 weeks ahead of your big day. That'll give you enough time to plan your regime and not have to do anything extreme to get where you want to be.
The length and difficulty of your journey is going to vary depending on how much weight/fat you feel like you need to lose, your schedule and recent exercise conditioning. So, the first thing to do is understand where you are in relation to your destination at the very beginning.
Have a look in the mirror and stand on the bathroom scales. To give you a sense of reasonable expectations, here are some examples to factor in:
Rate of weight loss per week
Aim for 1-1.5lb (0.5-0.7kg) per week. 2lb (0.9kg) and above is possible but would generally require calorie deficits that I do not recommend.
Rate of muscle gain per week
It's fair to aim for an extra 0.25-0.50lb (0.12-0.23kg) per week, depending on your conditioning. This will roughly translate to a visual difference in 6-8 weeks.
Another aspect - often overlooked as part of a body transformation program and never more relevant than in wedding prep - is posture.
You would be amazed the difference correcting your posture can make to your overall appearance in terms of athleticism, youth, and attractiveness. Book in a training with a Pilates instructor or physiotherapist, who will be able to assess the way you stand and prescribe some corrective exercises. The great benefit is that you'll keep your improved posture way beyond your wedding day!
Eating the right numbers
If weight loss is your goal, then you want to maintain a small calorie deficit until your wedding day (hen weekends get a hall pass). I recommend a -20 per cent deficit on your resting days and a -10 per cent deficit on your training days. Conversely, if you are seeking to slowly gain muscle, I would opt for a normal intake on your resting days and a +10 per cent surplus on your training days.
You'll want your meals to consist of moderate to high protein, moderate fat and moderate carbohydrate levels. Without getting too deep into the woods, its always a good idea to consume a lower amount of carbs on your resting days than your training days. Think of it like petrol in a car: you simply need more to do a longer journey.
Consume a non-inflammatory diet
Whether or not you feel as if you have food allergies, on a plan like this I would suggest that you work with a non-inflammatory diet. This means dropping as much dairy, gluten, processed meats, trans fats, preservatives and additives as possible. They'll all aggravate your system and make it harder to reach your goal.
Low intensity cardio is your friend
Alongside your actual training, get as much of this as you can (aim for a heart rate of between 105 and 120 beats per minute). Just walk whenever possible - to work, to the train, to the shops. It will help you burn additional body fat without burdening you with additional fatigue.
Weeks 1 - 4: conditioning, habit forming
Begin with light to moderate workouts that will help you condition your body to regular training and help you to establish the habits you'll need to maintain consistency over the course of 12 weeks. This includes both your healthy meal planning and workouts.
The aim of your training in this phase is to condition your body to work as a unit and establish the strength, endurance and fitness you'll need to tackle the more challenging workouts of Phase Two.
Look to do bodyweight training circuits, light intervals and moderate resistance training.
An example week may look like this:
Monday - Bodyweight Workout
Tuesday - Walking
Wednesday - Short cardio intervals
Thursday - Light resistance training
Friday - Walking
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Bodyweight Workout
Weeks 5 - 8: metabolism building, fat loss
Time to turn up the intensity. Keep your meal plan the same while ramping up your regime to focus a little more on resistance training and high intensity cardio. These will give your metabolism a big kick, hence making your body burn more calories.
A typical week:
Monday - Lower body resistance training
Tuesday - Walking
Wednesday - Tabata circuits
Thursday - Walking
Friday - Upper body circuits
Saturday - Escalating density circuits
Sunday - Rest
Weeks 9 - 11: refinement, intensive posture fix, stress relief
OK, you've been hard at it for nine weeks and you've started to see results. Now is not the time to let up (sorry). Keep going with the training, while adding additional time to fix a couple of remaining problems. Starting with posture.
I'm introducing posture quite late into your program because, for many people, the most urgent efforts are going to be focused on weight loss.
Hopefully you're seeing the fruits of that labour now, so you have the peace of mind to focus on the details and can introduce the postural advice that you acquired at the beginning of the training program.
You also need to think about your stress levels. It might be that your wedding is now only a few weeks away - and it's a very stressful time. A simple daily 10 minute meditation can really help here (combine it with a yoga session if you're lagging a little behind your weight loss goal).
Week 12 - 13: final touches
One to two weeks before the big day itself, you should have achieved quite a remarkable transformation. Now is the time to taper your efforts and focus your energy on other things - such as your wedding!
Just make sure you keep drinking water during this period - and go easy on the salt intake (which will help you avoid dress-splitting water retention). You might also consider a lymphatic drainage massage - I've known clients to lose as much as 7lbs (3kg) of water weight this way, although it doesn't work for everyone.
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