Why does it happen, and is anyone safe from this frightening condition called marriage?

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how life changes just a bit after marriage. Maybe you’re spending more time cuddling on the couch eating ice cream with your honey than you used to. Maybe the time you devote to family and housekeeping has robbed you of the hours you used to spend at the gym. Maybe you are not as concerned about a few extra pounds, now that you are a comfortable, happily married woman (or man).  Or maybe the added stress of marriage (the first year can be particularly challenging for some) is driving you to seek solace in the pantry.

Oh ya, one more thing: Guys, as a general rule, eat a lot more than girls, so when you’re cooking for him and eating meals together, you are probably consuming a lot more than you used to!

But whatever the reason, there’s no need to let the “love chub” take over.

I”m afraid I have no magic formula for keeping the pounds away. It’s the same answer you’ll find any time the question is asked: How do I loose weight? Eat right, and exercise. There are no shortcuts, but if your spouse is willing to partner with you, staying fit might be more fun than it used to be!

Want to hear how other couples decided to get back into pre-wedding shape? Read ???Will Marriage Make You Fat? How to Avoid the “Love Chub” Trap.

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Here are some of their secret weapons to help you get sexy for the season!

Plan toward your Goal

Chris Gaines of Equinox Fitness in Palo Alto, California offers these key steps:

1. Set a goal: Get specific about what your goals are, write them down and make a firm commitment to achieve them. (For example: Loose 10 lbs in the next 6 weeks)
2. Set a plan: By creating “stepping stones” or short-term goals, we give ourselves the opportunity to celebrate minor victories, which help us stay motivated. (For example: I will aim for 1.5-2 lbs a week.)
3. Practice time management: It is critical that we set aside the appropriate amount of time in each day to accomplish daily goals and schedule it in like an appointment with the same urgency and priority as a dress fitting. (For example: I will go running in the morning twice a week, work out at the gym 3 afternoons a week, and go swimming twice a week.)
4. Reward yourself: Set specific rewards for your accomplishments, such as spa treatments or favorite treats, when you achieve a short term goal. This way you will have incentives to look forward to. (for example: After every 2 lbs lost I will celebrate with a girl’s night out at the movies!)

Don’t Starve– Diet Smart

“Every bride wants to look her very best on her wedding day, but when they pursue drastic weight loss at any price they traditionally end up walking down the aisle with lackluster energy and a haggard look,” says Oz Garcia, PhD. “The best diet is eating frequent healthy small meals and snacks throughout the day consisting of fruits and vegetables of every color, fish and lean protein.”

If you omit carbs completely, you will lose weight initially because carbohydrates make you retain water. However, a carbs-free diet often backfires because it increases your desire for carbohydrate-rich food and it’s quite hard to stay on track. Instead, Oz Garcia advises that you replace breads, pasta and potatoes with one small serving a day of basmati rice, millet, squash or sweet potatoes, which are digested more slowly and are therefore more filling. Brett Hoebel suggests the following substitutes: agave (for white sugar), whole grain (for white flour), brown rice (for white rice), almond milk (for white cow milk), Celtic sea salt (for white salt).” Alcohol is also filled with empty calories and should be avoided.

One glass of raw vegetalbe juice a day has also been show to help dieters loose weight, according to celebrity trainer Marco Borges “Besides the weight loss, juicing will also significantly increase your Vitamin C intake along with many other important vitamins, minerals and micronutrients.  Juicing also reduces your appetite and you’re much more likely to meet the recommended three to five servings of vegetables daily. Increased energy, stabilized insulin levels, improved immune response and too many more benefits to ignore.”

A 3-Part Workout

Here’s a 3-step routine, designed byPJ Stahl, an elite personal trainer in Los Angeles:

1. At each workout, start with strength training exercises. This will kick-start your workout by burning a large amount of calories and will get your body tight and toned for your wedding day.

2. Move as many joints as possible: During your strength training workout, do multi-joint exercises, which work more muscles and burn more calories than the traditional isolated exercises.

3. Finish with cardio. Even if it is only 10 minutes (20-40 minutes is ideal), cardio exercise will burn additional calories and decrease your percentage of body fat.

Partner with your Partner

“When you have someone to help motivate you or someone else relying on you to make good on the evening jog or workout class, you are much more likely to stick to your goals,” says Peter Park, trainer to cycling champion Lance Armstrong. If you can grab your fiancé as your workout buddy, that’s great! Otherwise, ask your maid of honor or a good friend, and setup a few workouts a week. It not only forces you to stay focused, but  exercising with a buddy is a lot more fun that doing it alone!

image from effortless movement

There’s nothing like an impending deadline—and a formfitting gown—to inspire someone to take her diet seriously. But too many women try to shed the pounds by starving themselves or by trying fad diets. So wouldn’t it be great if you could actually EAT your way slim? By concentrating on the right foods, you can reduce your calorie intake while inspiring your body to burn only fat, not muscle. The result: a lean wedding-day physique that can look as toned and fine on your 5th, 10th, or even 20th anniversary as it does on your honeymoon.

Brides.com offers advice from David Zinczenko, author of The Abs Diet For Women, with top 10 eat-your-way-slender solutions.

1. Focus on the good, not the bad. One of the problems with traditional diets is that they are all about deprivation. You can’t stick to them for very long because they make you feel bad—it’s all about “can’t, can’t, can’t.” A smart nutrition plan is about finding more foods that you can and should eat, and eating as many of them as possible every day.

2. Never let yourself get hungry. Two bad things happen when you get hungry. First, you start craving fast, easy energy—and the fastest, easiest energy comes from junk like chips, cookies, and candy. Second, when you’re hungry, your body starts breaking down muscle (not fat)—leading to the rebound weight gain so common with fad diets. Try to eat six times a day. Huh? Really? Yes! Three square meals and three smart, nutritious snacks will keep your body constantly fueled and constantly burning fat. And the real bonus: Since you’re not depriving yourself, there’s no temptation to ever go “off your diet.”

3. Pay attention to the 12 food groups. In researching The Abs Diet for Women, I discovered that healthy eating can be as simple as remembering this phrase: ABS DIET POWER. The letters represent the 12 foods that should be the staples of your daily eating plan. Every meal and every snack should have at least two of the following: Almonds and other nuts; Beans and legumes; Spinach and other green veggies; Dairy; Instant oatmeal; Eggs; Turkey and other lean meats; Peanut butter; Olive oil; Whole grain breads and cereals; Extra protein (whey) powder; Raspberries and other berries.

4. Cut back the baddies. In a dramatic rush to slim down? Cut them out entirely. Just looking to maintain your figure for a lifetime of lean living? Then give them the hairy eyeball as much as possible, but don’t worry about the occasional incursion into your diet. Here are the baddies:

TRANS FATS: Some fats, like those found in nuts, avocados, and other natural sources, are good for your heart and actually help you burn away flab. But there’s nothing natural about trans fats, which your body uses to build its spare tire factory—and which will gum up your arteries down the road. On ingredient lists they are called “partially hydrogenated oil” and can be found in packaged baked goods like cookies and cakes, as well as fried and battered foods.

REFINED CARBOHYDRATES: Refined sugar and refined flour give you an instant energy high, followed by an energy drop—and cravings for more refined carbs. Focus on whole-grain breads and cereals, and snack on nuts and fruit instead of cookies and candies.

HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (HFCS): Your body loves to turn this supers-weet sugar substitute into fat. HFCS is found in soda, cookies, and candy. It also lurks in processed pasta sauce, ketchup, even bread. The average American consumed about 62 pounds of it in the last year—an average of 228 additional calories every single day. Open the door to your fridge or pantry, take a look at the ingredients of the food inside, and you’ll be shocked. You can’t avoid HFCS entirely unless you move to Alaska and start hunting moose, but you can cut down on it significantly by reading the labels before you buy and limiting your intake.

5. Do the 20-second abs workout. Your abdominals are designed to stabilize your core; the more stable your core, the tighter your tummy. Think of it as creating a natural corset that helps keep your belly flat. Your secret weapon: an exercise called the plank. To do it, get into push-up position, but bend your elbows and rest your weight on your forearms instead of your hands. Your body should be in a straight line from your ankles to your neck. Now brace your abdominals as if you’re about to be punched in the stomach, and hold them that way for 30 seconds (work up to a minute) while breathing normally. Do two sets, three times a week.

6. Have a smoothie (or two) every day. This drink is a great way to ensure that you’re getting more of the power foods into your diet. Use plain or vanilla yogurt as a base; add fruit, some whey powder for extra protein, and ice. Toss it all into a blender and press “start.” Now you’ve got a delicious, nutritious substitute for ice cream. A University of Tennessee study found that people who added three servings of yogurt a day to their diets lost 61 percent more body fat and 81 percent more stomach fat over 12 weeks than those who didn’t eat yogurt.

7. Build more muscle. It’s depressing to spend an hour on the treadmill sweating away like a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, only to discover you’ve burned a measly 300 calories—that’s about two Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. But you can boost your burn after your workout by bringing some resistance exercise into your plan. Unlike aerobic workouts, lifting weights has been shown to raise your metabolism for up to 39 hours after your last repetition. So you burn more calories even while you’re lying on the couch. And if you can’t get to the gym, exercise such as climbing stairs, hiking, or even just walking uphill will firm and tone the legs and butt—where the majority of your body’s muscle already resides.

8. Skip the liquid sugar. You may think a glass of OJ is just the thing to start off your day, but, in fact, most juices are packed with calories and often include added sugars. And don’t get me started on soda. People who drink sweetened beverages (including iced tea and lemonade) consume an average of 330 calories a day more than those who don’t. That’s enough to add a pound of flab to your body every 11 days.

9. Beware of booze. I like beer, wine, and the occasional gin and tonic on a hot summer day. But alcohol and weight loss don’t mix. Your body sees alcohol as a poison, and as soon as you have a glass of wine, your digestive system becomes all about getting rid of the booze—which means it takes everything else you’ve eaten and stores it to the side of your stomach. Booze distracts your body from the task at hand—burning off fat and building a leaner, sleeker physique.

10. Cheat once a week. Not a great prescription for marriage, but a terrific remedy for weight loss. By giving yourself one meal a week where you can have whatever you want, you reward yourself for being a conscientious eater.

Image from beauty news nyc

When the big day arrives, you’ll feel great and look gorgeous! Reward yourself and treat your guests to some wedding favors that are just as delicious as they are pretty. Visit American Bridal for edible wedding favors, including cookies, candies, chocolates, mints, Jordan almonds, coffees, teas, and more!

Often brides will order a dress a size or two smaller than what they currently wear because they’re determined to be thinner by the big day. Some go much further than that.  Ironically, says the owner of one bridal boutique, it’s often the women with the least to lose who lose the most. “A lot of thin girls get obsessed with being even thinner, and end up coming in for their fittings looking like a rack of bones.”

Unhealthy weight loss that plagues about 20% of brides to be, according to researchers, including skipping meals, going on liquid diets, fasting, using laxatives or unprescribed diet pills and supplements, smoking, and vomiting after meals.

In recent years these “rising expectations of bridal beauty” have led to other unhealthy means of achieving the illusion of physical perfection. This includes tanning salons, which can dramatically increase the risk of developing skin cancer. “The tanning industry says it’s a safe way to get a tan, but if you ask people who use them, a lot of people get burned.”

Many brides are requesting a shot of Botox, a little filler to eliminate a wrinkle, or a shot of cortisone to deal with an outbreak of acne. They may also ask for laser treatments to eliminate little broken blood vessels, sun spots and other bothersome blemishes. When done correctly, these treatments are safe. But there are a lot of people with very little training (including general practitioners and non-doctors) who offer these services. “Some have even used research-grade botulinum toxin in lieu of Botox, because it’s cheaper—but misuse has landed a few people in the hospital for months, hooked up to ventilators, after developing full-blown cases of botulism.”

Bride-to-be Noelle Nicolai is trying to maintain perspective and balance. She has a to-do list that includes teeth whitening, tanning, and hair shine treatments. But she is also doing research on how to make a marriage successful. She’s setting aside time for religion and community service projects, and she’s making sure to have meaningful dialogue with her fiancé, not just conversations that revolve around the wedding.

Does she still feel the pressure to look her best when she walks down the aisle? Yes: “At the end of my wedding day, it won’t matter if my hair was perfect, my teeth were blindingly white or my body was as hard as the rock on my finger,” she says. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t try!”

All this fuss seems a little crazy to Nicolai’s fiancé, who constantly reminds her that he’s happy with her just the way she is! This wedding culture obsession becomes increasingly shallow, and marriages are crumbling faster than ever. Beauty is more than skin deep, and a one-day affair revolving around the you is not the ultimate goal.  If the superficial wedding details are preventing you from preparing for the more essential aspects of a good marriage, you are doing yourself and your fiance a disservice. Sensitivity, kindness, sincerity, humor… this is the stuff that real beauty is made of.  If you make yourself worthy of love, as opposed to a mere object of fantasy, you will be loved, imperfections and all.