How to Minimize Your Belly for Your Wedding Dress

Many brides want to slim down before the big day.

Every bride-to-be dreams of her upcoming wedding day and aims to look as perfect as possible as she walks down the aisle. Often, losing extra weight is a main goal of brides -- some will even order their wedding dress in a smaller size as an incentive to lose those extra pounds. One of the best ways to minimize your belly before your wedding day is to get on a healthy nutrition and exercise plan. Luckily, there are additional ways to shrink your stomach in a pinch, thanks to body shapers that hold in problem areas.

Instructions

1. Start early. On average, people can safely lose up to six pounds per month, which isn’t a lot of weight if there’s a lot to be lost. Accelerate weight loss by exercising more, not by starving -- losing a lot of weight quickly means loss of muscle, too, which will cause a flabby tummy.

2. Drink plenty of water and skip carbonated beverages, sugary drinks and alcohol. Water is not only a calorie-free drink, it also helps control snacking, which can cut calorie intake two-fold. Eight glasses of water per day is a good starting point, but a better rule of thumb is to divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces of water daily.

3. Perform the plank exercise to stabilize the body’s core and, in turn, tighten the abs and reduce the belly. Start in pushup position, then bend your elbows and place your forearms flat on the ground, resting on your arms instead of your hands -- at this point, the body should form a straight line. Hold this position for as long as possible, working up to one minute, and repeat two times a day, three days per week.

4. Wear a body shaper, like Spanx, under the wedding dress. This type of undergarment is designed to hold in problem areas like the stomach. Companies that make these body shapers often have a bridal line that takes fabric and dress type into consideration, since not every body shaper is created equal.

5. Cut calories to lose weight quickly if there’s only a week or two to go before the wedding day. Eat more protein and less carbs and fat, but make sure to not eat less than 1,200 calories per day. Also, remember that this isn’t a long-term diet plan and is only safe to follow for a couple of weeks.

Tips & Warnings

• Try on different body shapers with the wedding dress instead of assuming that the undergarment will look fine with the dress. For example, some body shapers will form a line that shows through a wedding dress at the thigh or the panty line and the bride will need a body shaper that goes down to the ankle instead.

References

• "MSNBC"; Slimming Down For Your Big Day; August 2005
• The Knot: 5 Ways to Lose Weight Before Your Wedding
• Brides: Top Trainer’s Plans for Healthy Weight Loss
• Spanx: Bridal Brochure