"I lift things up and put them down"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-cpojkILO0

Every time this commercial comes on I cannot help but laugh hysterically, and then walk around my house imitating that muscle head (<3). 

Anyway, that video is a perfect segway into this month's topic: Fitness

I've been around countless brides in my life and the one item each always has at the top of their ' Wedding To Do' list is: Fitness (hmm, seems like a reoccurring theme, doesn't it?)

So where do you start?

Let's first get my biggest pet peeve out of the way; brides who wait a month before their wedding to start any sort of fitness regimen and then realize that they can't drop that 15lbs they reallllly wanted to that fast, and then resort to starving themselves, taking laxatives (NOOO!!!), or trying to get in 3-4 workout sessions a day. let's get serious here, shall we ladies? a) DON'T starve yourselves!! What the heck is that going to get you, other than mood swings, bad skin and bouts of fatigue?  b) Laxatives are dangerous and unnecessary c) working out 3-4 times a day is going to exhaust you, you do NOT need to be that stressed or tired a month before your big day.

my advice to you?  Set a reasonable goal to lose the weight you want off in a time period that makes sense.  losing 15lbs in one month is NOT reasonable, whereas losing 5-8lbs is very reasonable. If you really want to lose a few pounds before your wedding, then it is very doable, but you need to be strategic about it.  I'm going to help show you how.

1. Set a long term goal
• How much do you want to lose?
• When would you like to lose it by?
2. Set a series of short term goals
• from your start date make a list of mini monthly goals.  For example, your wedding is in July, you were engaged in September. Your goal is to lose 15lbs, your mini goals can be that every month you'd like to lose 2 lbs so that by your wedding day you will have lost about that much.
• buy yourself a budget friendly target outfit. A nice blouse, a sexy skirt, something that you can't fit into now, but after you lose your first 4lbs it slips on like a glove.
3. Take pictures
• Taking progress photos is an amazing way to see the results you're getting every week.  It's hard to see when you look at yourself in the mirror every morning, but trust me when I say that you'll be shocked when you compare your photos week to week. 
4. Take a look at your diet.
• make a log for about a week and take a look at what you're consuming
• a diet overhaul is key to making your weight loss dreams a reality.
• Portion  size, the majority of people eat way too much in a day, I found this site that shows portion sizes from twenty years ago compared to now, it's astounding!
5. Get Moving
• When you change your diet you will definitely start seeing results, but you need to incorporate daily exercise into your day to day routine to make everything come together.  Get in 30 minutes of cardio everyday and get in about the same amount (or more) of weight training in as well.  Ladies, don't be afraid of weight training!! Muscle weighs more than fat and muscle also burns more calories, so start lifting! This site is the most amazing site out there, and it motivated me to begin training the way I do now.
6. Believe in yourself
• If you change your diet and start working out more often, nothing will happen if you don't believe you can get to where you want to go.  Make it a habit to think positive thoughts about yourself and what you are trying to accomplish.  Believe it or not, in the weight loss journey, we are our own worst critics, we want it the most, we're doing all the work, but we can still hear ourselves saying "This is too hard, I can't do it."  Take those words out of your vocabulary, you CAN do this, you owe yourself to do this.  This is your goal, so you WILL achieve it.

Breathe in, breathe out.  Believe.