Are you getting married this year? If so, you are probably hoping to lose a few of those extra pounds to look good on your wedding day. The problem is, between work and preparing for your wedding, you probably don’t have a lot of time to work out. Don’t worry, though; there are things you can do to help you lose weight that don’t involve spending a lot of time in a gym. Two of the best ways to lose weight that don’t occupy a lot of time are watching your caloric intake and casual exercise. Here are some tips to help you with that goal.
When watching your caloric intake, the key is to cut out empty calories. You should set yourself a goal of how many calories to consume on a daily basis and track it closely. For men, a daily goal of about 1,800 calories or slightly less is a good goal, while with females, about 1,600 calories or less each day is key. Keep in mind you get three meals a day. When planning your caloric intake, consider when you want to consume your calories in terms of meals.
Breakfast is a meal where you do not need a lot of calories to get started in the day. Avoid the sweets that many might be tempted by, such as danishes and dougnuts. Have a few pieces of fruit and maybe one of those 100-calorie English muffins. This will keep your breakfast caloric intake under 300 calories and leave the majority of them for lunch and dinner.
For lunch ,consider light items as well such as frozen meals made by diet food producers such as Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers. Not only will these help you limit your caloric intake, but they also require almost no preparation time on your part. Remember as a future bride or groom your time is very precious. In general these meals vary between about 280 and 400 calories. Add in a 100 calorie pack of your favorite chip or cookies and you are looking at about 500 calories for lunch at the most. This means you still have half your caloric intake for the day left for dinner.
For dinner this is a time you might be able to share with your future spouse. This is a time when you two can get together and discuss any work you have done on planning your wedding that day. While doing this you can prepare your dinner together and enjoy each other’s company. By preparing it together you will have each other to help keep you “on plan” for your weight loss. The key with dinner is portion size. If you have beef for dinner keep your serving to lower than 6 ounces. For chicken or pork you can increase that to 8 or 10 ounce servings. Vegetables and fruits are very low calorie side dishes. Beware of starchy side dishes as they tend to be high on calories.
After your meal, you might want to spend more time together. Here is your opportunity for exercise. After your meal, go out and take a walk together and talk. You will both get some exercise this way and get to spend time together instead of having doing something like attending a gym limit your together time.
While walking you can discuss one final way to motivate yourselves: a reward. Why not choose a special activity on your honeymoon and start planning it on your walks? This can be anything from having a nice meal out with more calories involved than on your current diet, or maybe another activity you two love to do together. The key is to set it as a goal for both of you so you can help each other stay on program with your weight loss while preparing for your wedding.
One final tip to make your goal obtainable: Keep it to a loss of five to 15 pounds, with the higher amounts only applicable if your wedding is more than six months away. Weight loss can be fun when trying to lose pounds with your future spouse.
