All brides want to look flawless on their wedding day, and for many this means getting their bodies into tip-top shape before pouring them into a wedding dress. After all, this is a moment you’ll look back on for years to come, and you want to be at your very best. Unfortunately, this can lead brides to make poor decisions with their diets; starving themselves with crash diets in the lead up to the luxuriant wedding day feast. Healthy eating is, after all, for life, not just for your wedding day.

All brides have different needs when it comes to their definition of being in shape for their wedding day, but with these abiding principles, all can achieve their wedding day goals in a healthy and sustainable way so that they’ll still fit into their wedding dresses years later.

(Try to) Stay Low-Stress

This is easier said than done given the logistical nightmare of project managing a 21st century wedding, but try to remain calm as stress can negatively impact your goals. Stress causes your body to gain weight in ways that can be hard to shift. Stress causes your body to produce the hormone cortisol which can not only cause your body to store more fat, it can also dramatically increase your blood pressure, leading to a range of potential health problems. While anxiety is perfectly natural in the run up to a wedding, try to counteract it by making time for yourself to relax and enjoy the kinds of sedate yet pleasurable activities you enjoy like reading or a walk in the park.

Lose Weight Slow to Keep it Off

Crash dieting is not only counterproductive, it can seriously damage your health. Many crash diets necessitate a profound decrease in caloric intake, which may cause a short period of weight loss, sure, but it really isn’t sustainable. Depriving the body of essential nutrients will make you into a groggy, grouchy, irritable bridezilla who’ll struggle to concentrate on wedding planning because not only are her electrolyte levels at rock bottom, she’ll be too busy obsessively fantasizing about cake. It’s only a matter of time until crash dieters give in to their incessant cravings and fall into poor habits. And that’s before we get into the damage to stress that fasting places on the heart and kidneys.   

Blend your way to health

With so many irons in the fire, cooking nutritious yet tasty meals can be tricky for busy brides-to-be. Don’t let this become an excuse to rely on processed convenience foods that will severely compromise your goals. Instead, invest in the best blender for protein shakes. Combining a protein supplement with lots of fruits and veggies then mixing it all up into a shake will ensure that you always have access to a meal that’s nutrient rich, yet quick and easy to prepare.

Take a HIIT

Busy brides don’t have the time to spend hours slaving away on a treadmill or cross trainer. Fortunately, there are much more effective ways to blitz body fat, build lean muscle mass and boost your metabolism in a fraction of the time. Incorporating High Intensity Interval training (HIIT) into your workout routine will see you make faster and more noticeable gains without eating into your busy schedule.