With the royal wedding at the end of this month and Kate Middleton losing weight in the run up to the big day, we thought it would be a good idea to get a fitness expert’s perspective on weight loss and weddings for our second guest blog.

So lets introduce you to Charlene Hutsebaut, a  Canadian personal trainer who has over 17 years experience in the fitness industry who now trains one to one clients in London and has an online membership site called Positively Slim. Over to you Charlene.  

‘With so much media hype at the moment about Kate Middleton getting ready for her wedding, my thoughts have always been she looked wonderful, fit and healthy before the engagement so why has she now started to shed body weight?

In my mind there was absolutely no need for this fit, healthy woman to lose anymore on the scales, as my professional approach to health and fitness is to not use the scales but  girth measurements, energy and fitness levels and feelings of wellbeing, which I believe is a much better guide.

A very popular wedding planner has been quoted as saying that many brides lose weight in the lead up to their wedding because of stress.  This may be true, but isn’t this supposed to be a happy day?  If a bride wants to be healthy and happy there are ways to look and feel great & combat stress!  I believe stress can be avoided by making positive choices, being organised and delegating tasks.

I feel getting married is a great time to have a health/fitness goal to work towards.  If a bride wants to be fitter, more toned and healthier she should start at least three months to a year before the month of the wedding due to scientific reasons.  Physiologically the body needs to have time to set new motor patterns, lay down muscle, shrink fat cells and develop healthier tissue.  This all takes much more than a month, which some brides feel is more than ample to get fit.  It’s not.

The benefits for starting as far away from the wedding date as possible are many. Regular exercise, meditation, yoga/pilates and other alternative health practices will keep stress at bay, keep energy levels even and feelings of emotional wellbeing positive. These things should be done consistently and regularly each week with a well-balanced nutrient rich food plan.  This will most likely result in girth measurements lowering perhaps some weight loss, but not unhealthy amounts and the start of a healthier lifestyle for a lifetime past the wedding.

I strongly suggest that a bride does not focus on the numbers on the scales but on healthy goals such as how clothes fit and most importantly how she feels. As many people may have already read, muscle tissue weighs more than fat.  If one starts a fitness routine in the lead up to their wedding they will build new muscle which will most likely not show a change on the scales but will certainly allow them to feel more toned, energetic, stress free and have clothes feeling better.

A good way to think about this comparatively is to visualise two women of the same height and age, one being an athlete or regular exerciser and the other a sedentary (non-active) person.  The reality is that the former will be heavier on the scales because of having more muscle tissue than the sedentary woman but will look more toned, healthier and fit.  So in my professional opinion this means that the scales are negligible.  What do they really tell us if the heavier woman in our example looks and feels better?

Charlene Hutsebaut

www.positivelyslim.ning.com

Thanks Charlene. As always we would love to receive your comments so don’t hesitate to drop us a line and if you need help with your planning head to Pierre Carr Weddings.