Flipping through bridal magazines today, there are more and more wedding diet tips creeping in between the latest wedding dresses and accessories. Many personal trainers are offering Bridal Boot Camps for the weeks leading up to "I Do". As a dietitian, I'm often fielding requests for meal plans to help people drop those "last five pounds" to fit in their wedding dress, or to look good in their bathing suit for a destination wedding. But I'm here to argue that you shouldn't lose weight for your big day - here's why:
Diets don't work.
Diets might "work" in the sense that you might lose weight, but in almost all cases, as soon as you stop the diet, you gain the weight back… and then some. Diets don't do anything to promote health because often the focus is on the number on the scale and as soon as people go off the diet, they go back on to their old eating habits.
With that in mind, I generally don't make meal plans for my clients because they don't work - even if I was able to factor in your food likes/dislikes, lifestyle, cooking skill and nutritional needs, as life happens, things come up so that we might not stick to the plan one way or another. And then you feel bad because you couldn't stick to the plan and it just turns into a vicious circle. So don't diet, whether it's for your big day, to squeeze into a bikini or even if you "just want to try" a cleanse.
You will decrease your chances of becoming Bridezilla.
I'm not married, nor am I planning to in the near future, so reading the Wishahmon blog sometimes makes my head spin - the 18-part series of all the planning that went into Carisa and Richard's wedding? Deciding how much alcohol to buy?? I definitely admire all the hard work that couples put into their wedding to ensure that their day is memorable and that their guests have a good time!
I work with many clients who are trying to manage their weight and many describe it as a "part-time job", what with the menu planning, grocery shopping, food preparation, food journalling, physical activity and other lifestyle changes that they have to make. I can't imagine trying to do all that and choose a wedding party, say yes to the dress, pick the perfect venue, convince my fiancé to take on some of the planning duties, hire a photographer, florist, DJ, etc. etc.
Food is not just about fuelling our bodies - it's also about fuelling your brain. Restricting your intake might make it harder to cope with the stress that comes with planning a wedding, and I'm sure we've all met people on restrictive diets who always seem a little hangry (hungry + angry). Just sayin'.
You don't have to mess with the dress.
There are many soon-to-be brides who buy or alter their wedding dresses just a *little* too small so that they could lose weight into them and use it as motivation. That's a terrible idea.
Even with the clients I work with, I don't get them to set a "goal weight" because there are so many different factors that affect the number on the scale, beyond just the calories we eat. We weigh different at different times of day, at different times of the month, depending on when/what we've eaten, etc. Also, because we can't spot-reduce, losing a certain amount of weight doesn't guarantee that it'll be in the places where your dress is too tight.
It's expensive and stressful to try to get your dress altered three days before your wedding just because you didn't "make your goal weight". Just get a dress that fits the first time, because chances are, it'll look better that way anyway.
Everyone will still love you and have a good time.
When men propose to their future fiancées, they don't do it with the mindset of "OK, now she's going to go on a wedding diet and finally lose those 10 pounds!" They do it because they love you and want to spend the rest of their lives with you.
Weddings are there to bring together family and friends to celebrate two people in love - they're not there for people to guess how much weight the bride has lost/didn't lose, or who looks better in what. If that does happen at your wedding, then you're either a) inviting the wrong people or b) Kim Kardashian.
Whether you lose weight or not, your future husband will still love you, your family will still love you and your friends will still love you. Whether people are going to have a good time is not affected your weight unless you spend the entire night blabbing about it. So just let go of that extra stressor and worry about it some other time. Have a happy wedding!
Still not convinced?
Stay tuned for the second and third parts of the series, where I will tackle some common weight loss/dieting myths as well as give practical tips for those of you who really want to lose weight.
Vincci is a Calgary-based dietitian who loves nutritious food that nourishes. She has featured on a variety of local and national media, including Breakfast Television Calgary, Global Calgary, Fairchild Radio, Canadian Living and Best Health magazine. For more information on Vincci and her services, please visit www.vinccitsui.com.
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