The Wedding Weight Loss Plan You Need If You’re 3 Months Out

BY: Colleen Loggins Loster |Feb 27, 2019

Let’s just get this out of the way at the top—you don’t have to lose weight for your wedding. Yes, wedding weight loss is basically a cliche at this point, but you shouldn’t do it just because you feel like you’re supposed to.

With that said, we recognize that looking good on a day in which cameras follow you around for hours is a priority for a lot of brides and grooms. It makes sense to shed some extra pounds if you’re not happy with how they make you look. But you should do it in a healthy way.

Enter Julie DiLeo, a personal trainer and the owner of the women-only gym Women’s Fitness of Boston. We asked Julie to create a three-month wedding workout plan to help brides achieve their wedding weight loss goals responsibly. That means losing 1–1.5 pounds per week while building muscle and combating stress—something that’s especially important for brides.

Click here to get a deal for Women’s Fitness of Boston.

The Three-Month Wedding Workout Breakdown

Workout Plan at a Glance

HIIT workouts: try Tabata (see sample Tabata workout below); strength and conditioning classes; or Strong by Zumba classes

Month 1: HIIT training 2x a week for 30 minutes
Month 2–3: HIIT training 3x a week for 30 minutes

Weight training: lift weights on your own; meet with a personal trainer; or try Power Flex 30/45 classes

Month 1: weight training 1x a week for 30–45 minutes
Month 2–3: weight training 2x a week for 30–45 minutes

Yoga: one 45- to 60-minute class 1x a week

Expected Results

This wedding weight loss plan is designed to help people lose about 10–15 pounds in three months and “can help create healthy habits to last a lifetime,” Julie says. “Many people build muscle along the way and change their overall body composition, losing overall inches.”

Just be careful, Julie warns. “I had a bride that bought her dress and lost so many inches that they could not alter it, so she had to go out and buy a new dress. It wasn't so much about the weight loss, but the composition of her body changed dramatically, and she lost over 10% body fat.

Diet

Eating portion-controlled meals is imperative when you want to lose weight. Meeting with a nutritionist can help you figure out what you should eat during this time.

Julie recommends eating prepared meals from places like Kettlebell Kitchen, which partners with her gym to deliver meals customized to each person based on their health goals. In addition to Women’s Fitness of Boston, Kettlebell Kitchen delivers to homes nationwide.

Keeping Track

Weight loss results when you burn more calories than you take in, and a calorie tracker can help you keep count of how many calories you’re at for the day. Julie recommends downloading the Lose It! app.

HIIT It

HIIT (high-intensity interval training) alternates short, intense periods of anaerobic exercise with short recovery periods to get your heart rate up and burn fat.

Julie loves HIIT for people who want to lose weight because of how it “boosts your metabolism, keeping it working overtime, and burning calories long after the workout.”

This EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), also called afterburn, is the body’s way of continuing to burn calories while it rests and recovers, Julie explains. Doing a HIIT workout every other day will give your body time to recover without sacrificing calorie burning.

“HIIT combined with proper diet and sleep will help any bride reach her goals to look and feel beautiful on the big day,” Julie says.

Tabata

Julie especially likes Tabata HIIT workouts: 20 seconds of intense exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is repeated for 4 minutes and 6–8 rounds. (See the Tabata workout Julie created below.)

“Tabata is fast-paced and burns a ton of calories. Be sure and fuel your body properly before and after your workouts,” Julie says, cautioning that if you’re just getting back to the gym, you should listen to your body and slow down if you feel dizzy or sick in any way.

Lift Weights for Sexy Shoulders & More Energy

On non-HIIT days, hit the weight room or a weight-training class like Women’s Fitness of Boston’s Power Flex 45.

“At least 30 to 45 minutes and light weights with lots of repetitions can be the goal here,” Julie says.

“Sexy shoulders look great in a wedding dress,” she adds, explaining that the shoulders have three small muscles (medial, anterior, and posterior) that are easy to work with light weights. “Work ALL three to create round, sculpted shoulders.”

She also recommends pairing upper-body exercises with lower-body exercises to multitask, a must for any busy bride. For instance, shoulder exercises can be done simultaneously with lunges if you incorporate weights.

“In three months [you’ll] feel stronger, more toned, and energetic for the wedding day—and a lifetime ahead!” Julie says.

Zen Out

Planning a wedding tries even the most well-organized brides, often leading to an increase in stress levels. Taking a yoga class is a great way to de-stress.

Julie advises brides to “make this workout session about recovery. Let go of the ego and modify during the flow. … Take this opportunity to reflect on the joy in your life.”

Yoga also helps increase flexibility for those important post-nuptial activities, if you know what we mean—the group dances, baybee!

JulIE'S Sample Tabata Workout

Follow the Tabata exercise in the first column. Use the modifications in the second and third column if you are just getting back into a fitness routine.

REPS

Start with set one. Do the first exercise for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Do the second exercise for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat for a total of 4 minutes. Rest for 1 minute, then move on to the next set.

Important: always warm up and cool down for 3–5 minutes.

Warm-up (30 seconds each)

Jumping jacks
Side-to-side stepping squats
Side-to-side shuffle
Squats with alternating knee lifts
Inchworms
Alternating toe touches

Workout

	TABATA EXERCISE	EASIER MODIFICATION	EASIEST MODIFICATION
SET ONE	Jump squats	Squat	High leg march in place
SET ONE	Mountain climbers	Standing mountain climbers	Standing toe touches
SET TWO	Star Jacks	Jumping jacks	Step side to side and lift arms over head
SET TWO	Pushups with a jack on the floor	Pushup on the floor with knees down. Lift knees, then jack legs out on the floor.	Pushup on the floor with knees down. Lift knees, then tap one leg out to the side.
SET THREE	Speed skaters with a hop	Speed skaters	Slow speed skaters
SET THREE	Butt kicks with speed bag	Butt kicks (no speed bag)	Squat and alternate butt kicks (no speed bag OR hopping)
SET FOUR	Jumping lunges with a twist (twist toward the front knee)	Jumping lunges (no twist)	Step-back lunges (no twist OR jumping)
SET FOUR	Burpees (start in plank, hop forward, and jump up)	Burpees (no hop at the end)	Burpees (step back to plank. Step forward to plank and squat. No hopping.)
SET FIVE	Side-to-side sprints (side to side and tap the corner of your mat)	Side-to-side sprints (slower or shuffling)	Side-to-side sprints (stay tall and move at your own pace. Squat when you reach each corner.)
SET FIVE	Long jump (squat and turn)	Long jump (squat and turn. Lead with one leg on the long jump, then squat and turn.)	Long jump (squat and turn. Lead with one leg on the long jump. No squat.)
SET SIX	Standing scissor leg hops with small and fast arm circles	Standing scissor leg hops (no arms)	Standing scissor leg taps (tap one foot back at a time while doing small, fast arm circles)
SET SIX	Bicycle crunches in boat pose	Bicycle crunches	Bicycle crunches (keep feet on floor, reach elbows to opposite knees)