Stepping It Up

My wedding is now only 9 weeks away, and following the wedding is the honeymoon in paradise with the dreaded bikini moment. To say the pressure to be 100% on plan is high is an understatement. I want to feel slim and amazing on my wedding day. I want to be able to look back at my wedding pictures and feel really positive about myself. I don’t want to look back, as I do to when I was bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding, thinking that I could have done more to lose weight and tone up. Moving on to the honeymoon, I want to feel confident in my bikinis, not spending the entire time sucking my stomach in and comparing myself to other, slimmer women (though thankfully as we’re going to a tiny island in the Maldives there at least won’t be crowded beaches full of slim women!).

My goal for the next nine weeks is to lose a stone, which averages about 1.5lbs per week. This won’t take me to target, but I would be close to target, and I think that is a reasonable goal to aim for. I wouldn’t complain if a few more pounds decided to disappear too though! In terms of following the plan, I need to be 100% on it, and I want to make as much use of the Success Express and Red Day plans as I can, as I find these are the best at speeding up my weight loss, though I do intend to allow a few Extra Easy or Green days to mix things up, and to allow for meals out.

I also really need to start increasing my exercise again. I’d been doing really well with my walks before I started my new job, but I’ve been finding it harder to fit walks in around work, wedding plan and flat selling. I’ve only been managing about 1 a week, and that really needs to increase. So, I’m considering a few options – firstly I’m contemplating walking to work in the morning (when it’s dry!). It would get the exercise out of the way first thing, the only problem being me forcing myself out of bed a bit earlier, as it would mean leaving 45 minutes earlier, and I am very much not a morning person!

I’m also considering taking up running again. A few years ago I joined a beginners running group and built up to 25 minutes of solid running, however after the course finished I let the running slide and it’s now been over a year since I last did any sort of running (unless you count my odd runs for the bus!). I do feel its an exercise that does tone me up, and once I manage to force myself to break through the pain barrier at the start, I do enjoy it. I also think I’m fitter now than the last time I ran, so hopefully I’ll be able to build up quickly again. I’ve downloaded the Couch to 5K programme to give me a plan to get started again, and I’m thinking about going out for my first attempt. Wish me luck!