Hello everyone!
I’m Christie Wang, Principal Pilates instructor (PMA-CPT) at Endurance Pilates and Yoga. I teach classical NY style Pilates at Endurance Pilates and Yoga. My wedding is less than 8 weeks away. For the next two months, I’ll be sharing my journey to feeling and looking my best; including healthy wedding prep nutrition, exercise and self-care routines. I had my very first wedding dress fitting two weeks ago, and it got me thinking more and more about maintaining a balanced pre-wedding diet!
Many brides spend the months before their wedding crash dieting, avoiding carbs and focusing in on their diets to get in their best shape. If you google “wedding diet,” dozens of articles like “21 Day Pre-Wedding Diet Plan” and “The Ugly Truth About Wedding Diets” come up. There’s clearly pressure for brides to go to some pretty extreme measures to “shed for the wedding.”
Knowing that maintaining a healthy “clean” diet is the biggest factor in losing weight, or maintaining my current weight, I’ve taken a few small measures to clean up my diet. As I’m staying super active and running a marathon the week after my wedding, there will be no crash dieting or extreme measures here. And yes, I am keeping around my carbs.
- Drinking more H2O and less caffeine: As a Pilates instructor who has to wake up at 5 AM to get to her first class, I run on coffee. But, in an effort to improve my skin, I’ve cut coffee to just one cup a day and increased the amount of water I am drinking (~5-6L a day).
- Reducing refined sugars/desserts: Let me say that pastries, cookies, scones and croissants (oh croissants!) are my biggest vice. Knowing that eating a croissant a day is not necessarily the greatest for me, I’ve decided to cut out, to the best of my ability, anything with refined sugars (most desserts). Instead of cutting this out completely, I’m replacing it with healthy alternatives (fruit, dried fruit with no added sugars, nuts and seeds and yogurt).
- Green smoothies to start the day: Instead of eating a traditional large breakfast, I’ve opted for a “two part” breakfast. Again, as I wake up so early, I usually whip up a cup of coffee and a green smoothie right when I first wake up. My green smoothies have spirulina powder, hemp seeds, cucumber, kale, pineapple and bananas. A few hours later (usually around 9:30 AM or 10 AM), I’ll grab a piece of toast with almond/cashew butter or a small cup of oatmeal with nuts and fruit.
- Avoiding preservatives/processed foods and sticking to whole foods: To the best of my ability, I’ve been avoiding processed “snacking” foods. Of course, in a pinch, or when I’m starving, I’ll have a few pretzels or some dried fruit but, I’ve been trying to stick to homemade and whole foods. For example, I’ve been making my own picco de gallo (just fresh tomatoes, onions, lime juice and jalapeno!) instead of eating salsa from a jar.
As always, I am continuing to run and do Pilates on a regular basis. Stay tuned for Part III: At Home Pilates Exercises to Sculpt your Upper Back, Butt, and Abs.
Want more information about Endurance’s Bridal Package? They combine Mat classes & Reformer training on the highest quality Gratz equipment. Sign up today to begin your wedding prep!
This post is written by Christie Wang, an instructor at Endurance Pilates and Yoga. It does not represent the beliefs, opinions or advice of Endurance Pilates and Yoga.