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Saturday, May 15, 2010

Bridal Detox

Recently, while perusing the usual wedding websites, I stumbled across an advertisement for a bridal detox program. It consisted of mysterious, colorful drinks, as though straight out of Alice In Wonderland, promising to decrease my dress size and weight in an extraordinary amount of time for the low price of over 500 dollars. Call me a cynic, but ads like this one immediately raise my suspicion. Is it healthy to lose a significant amount of weight in a short period of time? Must I spend so much money and consume strange, toxic-looking concoctions? I’m all for being healthy and looking great on the big day, but I don’t agree with getting so skinny that your relatives no longer recognize you.

I hate dieting. I wish I could lose my belly and tone my arms and butt by eating pasta and drinking wine. However, I’m forced to resort to exercise and…cue Jaws soundtrack…eating healthy food. I’m adapting to the first part more easily than the second. Since I was laid off, I have a bit more time for exercise and have managed to incorporate about three days of jogging, spinning, or elliptical training per week for the past three weeks. Mr. CH and I have also been working on eating smaller portions and more vegetables, a somewhat successful effort. I’ve been making us salads for dinner twice a week, mixing them up with ingredients such as dried cranberries, walnuts, blue cheese, artichoke hearts, garbanzo beans, and other items that offer a little flavor to enhance the lettuce, tomato, green peppers, and cucumbers. Now we just have to work on not consuming an entire roll of French bread with our salads!

So far, the scale isn’t telling me much but I feel better, my face looks a little thinner (that seems to be the first place I lose weight), and my clothes aren’t quite as snug as they were a month ago. Mr. CH and I signed up for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, to provide us a goal that would help motivate both of us and raise money for a good cause. Unfortunately, Mr. CH is extremely busy at work right now and he has been trapped there during lunch and late at night, which puts a damper on extra energy to go running.

A friend of mine who got in great shape before her wedding recommended Suz’s Couch to 5k running podcasts —compilations of hip hop music with a narrator who instructs you when to walk and when to run. Week one starts with short runs followed by long walks and she slowly builds you up to mostly running by week nine. I’m on week three and finding it incredibly helpful and motivating. Now I just have to stick with this!

How do you find motivation to eat healthy and exercise?

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