Get Fit For Your Wedding Day Fitness & Nutrition: Dr. John Berardi & Ryan Andrews

Let’s face it. Your wedding day is big. You want to feel good, be healthy, and look radiant. What we eat is who we are, so like it or not, food plays a big role in the wedding ceremony. We’ve developed 7 strategies to help you get fit before it’s time to walk down the aisle. You can thank us by mailing any duplicate wedding gifts to our home office. We prefer kitchen appliances.

Strategy # 1 Dumb It Down
You don’t need to know how electricity works to flip the switch. Same goes for nutrition. It’s about putting simple principles into action each day. Future brides will get stressed about the glycemic load of produce and the antioxidant score of mangosteen vs.acai. Don’t waste your time. Focus on eating nutritious foods at the right times in the right amounts. If you’ve landed a husband, we’re confident you’ll have enough basic food knowledge. If your instinct tells you to select broccoli over Pop-Tarts at the grocery store, you’re on the right track.

Strategy # 2 No Dieting
A diet might help you drop a few pounds for the wedding, but it won’t necessarily get you healthier. Moreover, brides to be that become preoccupied with dieting might become out of touch with their body. Anything that doesn’t work into their “pre-wedding spreadsheet” is off limits and the deprivation mindset takes over, this means cravings and overeating. Translation: you’ll eat more wedding cake than all of your guests combined. Plus, why get in shape for the ceremony if you rebound and reverse the efforts by anniversary numero uno. So, instead of dieting, focus on habits like eating just short of fullness and meals every 2-4 hours. If you focus on how you feel as the goal, rather than on fat loss, you’ll find, ironically, that you can’t help but get into better shape.

Strategy # 3 Nutrition Triage
Are you familiar with the term “triage?” It’s typically used in emergency room settings. Triage is dealing with the most significant issue first. If two people come in the emergency room, one has a splinter in their finger and the other just sawed off their leg, what is the most significant issue? Sawed off leg. It’s time for nutrition triage, bride to be. What is your biggest nutrition issue? Don’t spend hours searching for a lower “net carb” English muffin if your lunch each day is chased with a quart of juice. The net carb English muffin is the splinter in the finger. The stein of juice is the sawed off leg.

Strategy # 4 Eat Real, Whole & Unprocessed Foods
Yes, this describes the foods you are thinking of right now. Vegetables, fruits, lean proteins including beans, whole grains and nuts/seeds. If you eat foods that have been shipped to your grocery store from a food science lab, all bets are off. Including our wager that you’ll be fit at your wedding. When you eat enough nutritious food, it will help to keep you from craving, and overeating lousy food. How about beverages? Focus on drinking plenty of refreshing water and tea.

Strategy # 5 No Need To Be Perfect
How much effort did you put into setting up a caterer, invitations, and dress shopping? If it was 90%, you’ll be fine. If it was less than that, you might be in for a rotten wedding. Same goes for nutrition. If you’re dialed in 90% of the time, you’ll be fit.

Strategy # 6 Have Food Ready
The hardest part about eating well is making sure you have nutritious foods ready to eat when you get hungry. You might know what to eat, but if isn’t available, you’ll blow it when it’s time for a meal. Food shop effectively, order effectively at restaurants, and bring foods with you for the times you’re not by a fridge. A day packed with dress shopping and DJ interviewing can mess up eating routines. When life gets chaotic, that’s when we go to what’s convenient.

Strategy # 7 Five Hours of Sweat
Physically challenge your body and break a sweat for at least 5 hours each week. Do whatever you enjoy and will stick with. Just do it consistently and intensely. 5 hours of exercise each week will help you sleep better, manage stress (you can thank us when the alarm goes off on wedding day), and regulate appetite.

There you have it; seven basic tips for being healthy and fit for your wedding. And there’s more where that came from. Come take our free 5-day nutrition course for women at www.precisionnutrition.com. We promise you’ll learn everything you need to know to get into the best shape of your life for the big day.