Pre-Wedding Health Kick

As is traditional for most brides to be, I am currently in a pre-wedding health kick. Why? Though I'm not necessarily trying to lose any weight (I am not overweight.), I would like to tone up a bit. But the biggest reason is I just want to look and feel my best on my wedding day. And when do I look and feel my best? When I'm exercising regularly and eating healthy. I have so much more energy and am overall just happier!

GYM ROUTINE

Over the past several years I've learned to love working out. Especially cardio. Ooo I love me some endorphins! I'm a regular at any of the many high intensity classes at 24 Hour Fitness and a HUGE fan of running. But I'm definitely a slacker in the strength training department. Because I hate it. :P

So last month I signed up for a handful of sessions with a personal trainer to help reinvigorate my workouts. She gave me a lot of cool exercises that will help tone my upper body (my problem area) and core. And best of all, these are FUN exercises that don't FEEL like strength training!

We did a lot of use-your-own-body-weight drills and balancing exercises (Try doing dead lifts while balancing on a Bosu ball. Not easy!). This made me very happy as I've always been a little intimidated by the machines at the gym. Some of them look kinda like the exam table at my gynecologist's office. Not cool.

It's been tricky getting to the gym every day with the long hours I've been working on set recently. (14 hour day yesterday. Eugh.) But regardless, I try to do SOMETHING everyday. Even if it's just a quick run around the neighborhood and some crunches. 

So far I've lost 5 lbs. of body fat!

DIET

It's a well known fact that if you REALLY want to see the fruits of your labor at the gym, you have to watch what you're eating. I usually eat pretty healthy, but portion control can be a problem. I've had to stop buying peanut butter. It's good for you in moderation, absolutely. But I have NO discipline around the stuff. Just try and stop me from eating the whole jar! So it's bye bye PB for now...

But this will be my biggest challenge diet wise: drinking. I'm a German girl. So a nice tall beer is a constant companion. Why does something so delicious have to be so bad for you? It's not just the calories you're taking in, it's the terrible things it does to your body!

I went 3 weeks without a single drink at the start of my training sessions last month just to help kick start my metabolism. But here's what I didn't expect to happen at the end of 3 weeks: my skin positively GLOWED! Alcohol had literally been sucking all the life out of my skin.

So if I want that glow on my wedding day too, I'm sorry to say that alcohol is out for the next 6 weeks. It's gonna be SO HARD. All the Oktoberfest brews come out this time of year. And those are my favorite! But the results will be worth it.

And hell, our honeymoon's in Ireland, one of the greatest beer countries there is! What a perfect way to reward myself after 2 months of hard work!

That beer is gonna taste SO GOOD...


**Louisa**