There's a lot of pressure out there for brides to look their best on their wedding day. All you have to do is change your relationship status to Engaged on facebook to notice. The targeted advertisements that used to say things like "Date Night Hotspots" have suddenly been replaced with "How to Lose 27 Pounds with Acai Berry." It's like an attack on your self-esteem every time you refresh the page.
.But it doesn't stop there. Weight loss companies have booths at bridal shows, offering discounted memberships and supplements. Wedding magazines have monthly features on how to lose inches from your "problem areas." When ordering your dress, bridal consultants ask how much weight you're planning to lose. Everywhere you turn, society seems to be telling brides that the way we look isn't good enough. And sadly, we buy into it - myself included.
After I got engaged, my fabulous, curvy body -- which I'd always been happy with before -- suddenly seemed like the enemy. An obstacle that I had to overcome *no later* than August 13, 2011. Somehow I convinced myself that I needed to lose thirty pounds and get back to my "ideal" high school weight. What a joke.
I'm not sixteen anymore. I can't eat an entire Totino's pizza as an "after school snack." I can't replace lunch with a King Size Snickers or a bag of Doritos and see no repercussions. My metabolism has slowed way down since then, and my job involves sitting in an office 95% of the time. The extent of my active lifestyle involves an occasional morning jog and punching along with Billy Blanks when the rare mood strikes. The carefree days of high school are long gone, and my high school waist went with them. And you know what? That's okay! But at first I didn't feel that way.
So I started counting calories. I set a weekly weight loss goal and kept track of everything I ate during the day. Now there's nothing wrong with doing these things in general, but the way I did them was unhealthy. I was dieting for the wrong reasons. I put a picture of my dress (as worn by a size two model) on my fridge so I would see her every time I opened it. I outlawed all my favorite foods and was extremely hard on myself if I exceeded my daily calorie limit. I stressed every time I thought about the scale. Why was I putting all that pressure on myself? Shouldn't getting healthier make your life better?
Frankly, I'm over it. I'm not going to focus on "losing weight" anymore. Making healthier food choices and striving for a more active lifestyle? Sure. But those are lifestyle choices: habits I've wanted to instill in myself for awhile now. Obesity and diabetes run in my family, and I definitely need to take more accountability for my well-being so that I don't succumb to them myself. But the wedding will not be a deadline, and there will be no "target weight" involved. I refuse to let facebook or anyone else make me feel bad about body anymore. "Muffin top" or not, every bride is beautiful!
Did you revolt against the "Bridal Diet"?
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