11 Easy Ways To Rock Your 2019 Wedding Fitness Plan

Wedding Planning Tips // Get In Shape For Your Wedding Day // Wedding Photographers Huntsville Alabama

Yay!! The calendar finally flipped to 2019. You can now officially say that you’re getting married this year. And if you’re like most of us, you’ve had that nagging little “lose weight for the wedding” to-do stuck in the back of your mind.

Maybe you started a new workout routine a few months ago. You might have even added in some new, healthier eating habits along the way. Then the holidays came along with their Thanksgiving pies, Christmas goodies at the office, and appetizers at the NYE party. It’s so easy to get off track in November and December.

January is such a great time of new beginnings, though. This year, it’s going to be the best yet.

This week, we’re sharing 11 easy ways to rock your wedding day fitness plan. Getting in the best shape of your life might not be as hard as you think!

Focus on the little steps that add up

Unless you’re one of those people who can successfully do a complete lifestyle change and stick with it, chances are you’ll need something a little more bite-sized. Most of us fall into the bite-sized category. You’re not alone!

These tips are easy to incorporate into a busy lifestyle. The key to them is consistency. It might not feel like you’re doing much at first – but boy, do they add up after awhile. Little by little progress is more powerful than a lot of people realize.

Choose 2 or 3 of these to start with. Add them into your routine until they’re just part of life. Then add in a couple more! Everybody’s lifestyle and situation is unique. Find what works for you (and what you can stick with), and rock it for all it’s worth!

11 Easy Ways To Rock Your 2019 Wedding Fitness Plan

1. Take the long way.

Instead of heading straight for the closest parking spot, find one halfway down. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. (It’s usually faster, anyway). When you’re shopping, walk an extra loop around the outer aisle of the store or simply walk down a few extra aisles as you go. Those extra steps every day will add up!

2. Put workouts into your schedule.

I’m a little bit of a productivity/goal-setting geek, and I can testify to the power of scheduling! Decide ahead of time which days you’ll add in your workout – then schedule a time for it! It takes away that hard decision on your way home from work of whether or not to stop at the gym (or push snooze a few more times). Treat it like a meeting or event. It’s on your schedule, so you do it!

Two things to remember:

Starting is by far the hardest part. If you feel like your motivation is completely gone, challenge yourself to do just 1. Do just 1 push-up or 1 squat. Make yourself put on your workout clothes, even if you’re still debating whether or not you’ll go for that run. Once you’ve started, you’ll be surprised at how fast your motivation comes around.

A little is 100% better than nothing. If you have 10 minutes to do a workout before you have to head out again, use that time for squats or crunches. Those extra 10 minutes add up so much over the course of time!

3. Download an app that tracks your steps.

It’s one of the most motivating ways to keep yourself moving! There’s nothing more rewarding than watching those steps add up (and those calories burn off).

4. Find something you enjoy that you can only do during your workout.

This might sound kind of random, but it’s been one of the most powerful things to get me on my elliptical every day. I usually play movies on my iPad or listen to a podcast during my workout. It amazes me how many times I just can’t wait to get to my workout because I want to finish my movie or podcast!

5. Drink lots of water.

When you’re dehydrated, you often start craving unhealthy food. Water is not only healthy for your entire body, it can actually help curb your appetite. Treat yourself to a cute new water bottle that you don’t mind carrying around everywhere. Personally, I’ve found that I drink more when I have something with a straw.

Just for motivation: there’s a guy we know who used to drink two or three cokes every day. At one point, he decided enough was enough. He restocked his work fridge with water and a few diet cokes (for the really long afternoons). The result? He shed pounds like crazy. That was the only change he made!

6. Look for healthy snacks that you actually like.

Are you a peanut butter fanatic? Do you actually enjoy raw peppers with some ranch dressing? Maybe you love fresh strawberries. Find a few healthy snacks that you can keep around your house. When you’re hungry, having them easily accessible will help you skip the sugar or carbs and go for the good stuff.

Some ideas:

Make a smoothie with frozen blueberries, greek yogurt, peanut butter, and chai seeds.

Put some sliced peppers, baby carrots, and cherry tomatoes in an easy to grab container next to the ranch dip.

Create a yummy yogurt parfait with vanilla greek yogurt, berries, and granola.

Go classic with a banana or sliced apple spread with peanut butter.

7. Plan your meals ahead of time.

Just writing them down ahead of time makes it so much easier to eat healthier dinners at home! When it’s almost dinner time and you’re hungry, it’s way easier to run through the drive through or grab some unhealthy convenience food. Writing down a meal plan ahead of time means the decision is already made for you! You just check to see what’s on the menu for the night and get to it!

8. Double your recipes.

I know that not everyone is a fan of leftovers, but they can be a powerful tool for eating healthy! Double your recipes when you do cook a healthy meal. Pack some lunch-sized containers to stock your fridge. Instead of eating out or grabbing packaged food for lunch, you can have ready-to-go healthy food at your fingertips as you head out the door in the morning.

I also search for recipes that make great leftovers and plan for a second dinner with them. Healthy food + no cooking that night = total win.

9. Hide foods that tempt you.

The saying “out of sight, out of mind” is timeliness for a reason. If you see it, you’re much more likely to crave it. The best tactic is to not keep temptingly unhealthy food in the house. (But I recommend keeping a few “compromise” items, like dark chocolate for when you just need a bit of something sweet).

If you can’t eliminate unhealthy foods, put them somewhere that’s not easily accessible. At our house, I always have homemade baked goods around for Joel’s lunch boxes. I hide the pan on top of the refrigerator or in a cabinet so I don’t munch on them all day long!

10. Eat your vegetables first.

Food tastes so much better when you’re hungry. That salad also looks way more appealing before you down a slice of pizza than after. While you’re cooking dinner, snack on a salad or raw vegetables with dip. You’ll find it easier to eat a moderate portion of that night’s pasta than if you were starving and dug right into that cheesy, saucy pile of goodness.

If your meal consists of protein, carbs, and vegetables, load your plate with the vegetables first. Because your plate looks empty, you’ll put more on. That also goes for the carbs or less healthy parts of your meal – whatever you serve yourself first, you’ll naturally take a larger portion.

11. Find healthy substitutions that you won’t even mind.

This really clicked for me when I discovered that Aldi’s plain greek yogurt tastes almost identical to sour cream. We eat a lot of Mexican food at our house (hello, endless healthy black bean and vegetables recipes!), so I found it to be a powerful substitution. I also now use it to make my own easy deli salads.

One of my go-to lunches during the week is to dip raw vegetables into tuna salad made with plain greek yogurt. I add in some sweet relish, salt, garlic powder, and a dash of sugar – and I don’t even miss the mayo!

Bonus: My biggest tip for sticking with it:

Don’t set unrealistic expectations for yourself. Unless you have the commitment to make a huge lifestyle overhaul and stick with it more than 2 weeks, you need something more manageable. Something you can actually stick with for the 6 months before your wedding day arrives (and hopefully even longer!)

Incorporate bite-sized changes in just two or three areas. Just taking the stairs, drinking plenty of water, and snacking on something healthy every afternoon can make a world of difference over the course of several months.

Not to mention that once you see the power of incorporating these small, healthier lifestyle changes that you can actually stick with, you’ll be motivated to add in more!

Now it’s your turn!

I challenge you to pick 1 or 2 of the tips that feel easy to you and start practicing them. You might even start to come up with ideas of your own! And when you do, hop back over here and share them with other brides in the comments!

If you’ve had “start a wedding fitness plan” on your 2019 New Year’s resolutions, we hope these easy tips will give you the jump start you need to make it happen!

*hugs*

Amber

Extra resource! I stumbled across this article by Greatist and wanted to share! They have 35 more easy tips that I thought were really good. Check them out for more inspiration!