When I was getting ready for my own wedding, I didn’t want to go on a crazy crash diet and try to look super thin for the big day. I opted for a more natural look but just a little more toned and healthy looking. I decided to eat a healthy diet of lots of veggies and cut out all the bad but delicious foods, and then for exercise I did pilates and cardio. The results were great! I was really happy about how I looked on our wedding day.

As funny as it sounds – I used the set of pilates DVDs that I got online from Windsor Pilates by Mari Windsor. She is the pilates instructor to the stars. It was about $40 or so for a DVD set that included the 20 minute workout as well as the 60 minute one. I would generally alternate between the long and the short pilates session so that I would have small breaks.

Photo Courtesy of Windor Pilates

Go to www.windsorpilates.com to order your DVD set. This was the easiest way for me to work out after getting home from work, making dinner, and then doing my nightly wedding planning. I would recommend a thicker mat than is used for Yoga, I got mine at Busy Body www.busybody.com and its about $80 for the SPRI Airex 180.

In addition to home pilates sessions, I would work out for about 20 minutes on our home elliptical machine. I generally didn’t want to handle weights since my wedding dress was strapless and there was no need to get the body builder look. I actually looked forward to the work out sessions since it meant a break from wedding planning and catching up on Food Network shows. If you don’t have a machine at home you could always go to your local gym or take a quick run in the neighborhood to get the heart pumping.

As for food – my fiance and I adopted the rule to cook in our home 5 nights a week and then give ourselves a break on the weekend and go out. During the work week we ate lunches with food from home or I would go hit the cafe in the building and eat some greens with tuna, tofu, and some other veggies. It took some getting used to since I consider myself a bit of a foodie and I missed a lot of my more delicious and enjoyable foods.

In the end I dropped almost 5 pounds doing my food and exercise routine. My fiance lost some weight as well. It was beneficial for all and I got tons of compliments from friends when they saw me on our wedding day.

The best thing out of this wedding exercise and eating regimine is that since our wedding, we’ve maintained our good eating and exercise habits. I don’t get the same excitement from fast food that I used to, and my waist line has been thanking me. The entire point of my exercise routine was to make it so that I wouldn’t hate it because I’d be killing myself working out for hours a day. Start early in your wedding planning so that you have plenty of months to do your exercise routine prior to the big day.

I’ve recently joined the new Yogaworks studio that opened up in my neighborhood. Its been a long road and finally after all these years, I finally understand why people who exercise regularly feel so great and have such high energy.