Health & Fitness

In addition to loving weddings and design, I also love working out. I've always tried to stay in shape...not saying that I'm in the "ideal" shape that I'd like to be, but I try. However, sometimes I get out of my routine and have to force myself back into it. That's what happened around the time I got engaged.

A very commonly held belief is that a bride must lose weight before her wedding. Yes, she wants to look smashing in her beautiful wedding dress. At the same time, you don't want to look back at your pictures a few months after the wedding and say, "Gee, I was really skinny then!"
For me, that was exactly the case. I'm very much a picture keepsake person, and I didn't want to look back on photos and wish I could turn back time to be in the same shape that I was on my wedding day.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I was "out of sync" with my workout routine. So, one year and 5 months before my wedding, I started a Fitness Bootcamp. I was determined to get back into what is "normal shape" for me, and I figured if I was paying big bucks for the Bootcamp, I would most definitely force myself to go.


Bootcamp was one of the best things I've ever done. I made friends and found a sort of family and support group in the attendees. There were drawbacks of course, such as the class beginning at 5:30AM, skinned knees, cramps, and of course sore muscles. But the trainers kicked my butt back into shape in a mere 12 weeks. With sessions consisting of runs, ab workouts, sprints, weight training, pushups and kickboxing, I was back to "normal".
I continued doing the Bootcamp for approximately one year. I wish I could have continued going, but I started a new job that required me to be there at 6:30AM, so my morning workouts hit the wayside.
You can find a Bootcamp in your area here!

It was then that I encountered another fitness obstacle. TIME. I couldn't continue exercising in the mornings, and by the time I got home after my 10 hour work day, I was exhausted and it was time to fix dinner! I tried to go to the gym at night, after dinner, and I was getting home way too late for my 11PM bedtime. So I nixed that option.
The wedding was fast approaching, and I started trying all sorts of diets. It didn't help anything that I have always eaten fairly healthy (protein and veggies), so the normal diets of cutting the carbs didn't help me out.

• I took diet pills for about a month. Didn't work.
  
• I tried to eat PROTEIN ONLY for a week (no vegetables, no fruits, only protein). I only lasted 3 days.
• I drank protein shakes for breakfast and lunch as meal replacements. That lasted until one week before the wedding, when I ran out of the mix

Now, I was indeed exercising during this time. I was running just about every afternoon, taking my dog along for her exercise too. Thankfully, it was still decent weather in Florida and I could still breathe when outside (unlike now). I think running regularly combined with dieting helped me be in decent shape for my wedding. And thankfully, I don't look at the pictures now and wish I was as thin as I was then. (But the All Inclusive Honeymoon did put me back where I was 5 months ago! Watch out for those!)

So, on that note, I am going to also be posting "Health and Fitness" tips, articles, and links to help all of you readers, as well as myself, look your best and stay that way! I'm very much a proponent of exercising and eating healthy, but I also believe in enjoying yourself and not overdoing anything. So be on the lookout for the "Health and Fitness" posts every week!

If there are any health and fitness topics that you have questions about or would like me to look into, let me know!