As soon as I got engaged I thought ‘I’m going to totally crush my fitness goals now’. What better motivation to get to your peak physical fitness than to look amazing in your wedding dress? Fast forward eight months on, and I hadn’t really done anything.
I didn’t change my routine or start doing daily exercise like I’d imagined, and now, with three months to go I’m having a right panic. Thankfully for me, there is still enough time, so I’m finally doing something about it. The reality is that we all experience slumps in your fitness motivation, when it seems impossible to get back into that uber healthy routine. Coz binging on TV series and being just a little bit lazy is sooo much easier.
But (wake up call) – getting in tip top physical condition takes hard work. You have to push yourself and go outside of that oh so cozy comfort zone. I was trapped in a bubble. In my bubble I kept telling myself I looked pretty good and the lifestyle I was living was good enough. It wasn’t, not to get where I really want to be. You see that picture above where I’m channeling my inner bond gal? That was a good four years ago. I’d love to have that hourglass figure again for my wedding, but perhaps just be a little more toned. But wishing for something doesn’t get you anywhere my friends.
You see, you have to be willing to change. And changing your lifestyle is hard. It involves changing your food buying habits, prepping meals, making better choices when you eat out and at other people’s houses, and most importantly – getting out there and doing some darn exercise. The truth is I wasn’t ready then, but I am now. I’ve found my fitness mojo and I’m on the healthy living train heading towards a super healthy bod.
I’ve experienced this shift due to a number of reasons, some of which are explained below. But mostly because I got a wedding app that tells me how many days, hours and minutes I’ve got to shift this extra weight and tone the hell up. Now you know my story, I’d like to share the things that have finally motivated me to whip myself into shape.
Ways to get weight loss inspo…
- A personal trainer
So I happen to have a fiance and a best friend who are personal trainers at my disposal. Does it do me any good? Nope. Why? Because I don’t listen to either of them. In fact, my fiance said I was the worst client he had ever trained. I don’t take them seriously and winge at them, so yeah, having either of them as my PT totes won’t work.
So I’ve found one of my own, and he’s been pushing me hard. When it comes to exercising by myself (like most people), I find it hard to push myself. Even when someone is training me I will hold back and save energy in case they’ve got something harder for me, so I hardly ever totally max out.
My trainer has pushed me beyond the pain barrier, and I feel so much better for it. Plus, I know that twice a week I will be training hard and have someone helping me work towards my body goals.
- Life coaching
So as well as my PT, I’ve started on a new Think Lean Formula life coaching course with Antonio Esposito. Now I’ve got two experts on my side who can keep me moving towards my perfect wedding body. It’s perfect timing because the course is three months long, which is exactly how long I’ve got before the wedding.
So far we’ve been looking at my eating habits and questioning the thoughts I have related to food and weight loss. I’ve been recording not just everything I’m eating, but also the thoughts I have when I eat food. It’s really interesting stuff, especially seeing as a huge part of weight loss is in your mind, that’s what the course is all about. It also really helps just having someone there to report and feed back to every week, rather than doing it all on your own.
It’s a no diet course that gets you to question your lifestyle and eating habits in a healthy way. I’ve taken my before pictures and measurements and will keep you updated on my progress.
- Entering an event
For literally years I have been saying to myself, ‘I need to book some kind of sports challenge’. There’s the standard Tough Mudder type races, but TBH I don’t really want to voluntarily electrocute myself. That’s not fun. There’s a 10k race in the beautiful countryside near me, I see signs for it each year, but I’ve not got my butt in gear and booked it.
This year I texted to see if a friend wants to do it with me – and she’s in. It’s sometimes better to get someone else to do a challenge with you so you’re both in it together, it helps make you more motivated. So early October I’m doing a 10k trail run in the woods. I just needed something to work towards, and now I’ve got it. I did my first long run tonight (9.2k) and I feel very pleased with myself.
- Fitting into an item of clothing
In September I’m meeting with a couple of seamstress ladies, so naturally I don’t want to be feeling bad about myself when I go to that. It will also help me establish how I feel in my dress and whether I want to lose a bit more weight or simply work on toning up and filling it out nicely. If you’ve not got a wedding dress to get into, you can simply pick an item of clothing that’s been a touch on the tight side and work towards fitting into it comfortably, like a pair of skinny jeans for example.
