January is the month of new beginnings and a lot of weddings! If you are the Bride-to-Be or the Groom-to-Be, CONGRATULATIONS! By now you must have received tons of advice on what to wear, how to look and the very obvious weight loss. Being a dietician with tons of experience in this field, let me give you some advice before you begin your weight loss spree; Always remember that you are beautiful and loved irrespective of the weight on your body.

While fitting into your dream wedding lehenga or sherwani is important, it must not come at the cost of you barely being able to move out of weakness on your wedding day. Dietician Priyatama Srivastava-the best dietician in Gurgaon and Delhi NCR has curated a blog for the brides to shed some weight pre-wedding but mindfully and easily.

One thing everyone must know is that it’s not only the bride who works towards shedding a few kilos before the wedding, the grooms of this century are equally health conscious and follow diet plans and exercise regimes pre-wedding to look fit and fine on their wedding day. It is understandable, the urge to fit into your wedding clothes and pose lean and fit for the photos of your wedding album but every step you take towards being a fitter version of yourself on the D-Day, be mindful and conscious in it.

It is often seen that brides and grooms fall prey to the 1-week fat loss diets and end up taking supplements that do more harm than benefit to their bodies. While these might do close to nothing to the body, they might trigger hormonal reactions rendering your face to be prone to treatment before your wedding as well. Steer clear of such fad diets and supplements and go the old school way!

Connecting with an authorized and experienced dietician is of key importance when you want to lose weight before the wedding genuinely and safely. Dietician Priyatama Srivastava has helped quite a lot of brides and grooms lose weight before their wedding without the hassle of supplements or expensive exotic food diets. The very first advice from a dietician is NO CRASH DIETS! If you’re about to seek dietary measures for weight loss, your motivation must not be a short-term goal but to inculcate a healthy lifestyle from thereon.

Here are a few tips that one can follow:

1. Hydration is key: This is one point that cannot be stressed enough. While food is an important consideration of a pre-wedding diet, water is the key to keeping you hydrated amidst the hundreds of bride and groom duties you must be a part of and also the key reason to give you a natural wedding glow! Water flushes out the toxins from the body while keeping your organs happy and hydrated. Maintain a target of having at least 8-10 glasses of water.

A helpful little tip from my end would be to drink fruit and vegetable juices as a part of your water intake as drinking water in winters is a habit we seldom follow. These juices will add to your hydration and give you a pre-marital glow!

• Mindful eating: While eating healthy is crucial to losing weight before the wedding, don’t starve yourself of food. There are high chances of you falling sick just before your important events if you keep starving yourself of food. Instead, replace high-calorie intake with healthy ones like having a salad, adding lentils to your diet, having brown rice, oats for breakfast and consuming fruits in place of fried evening snacks. This way you won’t be low on energy and will also consume healthy food.

When you make pulses and brown rice a part of your diet, ensure the dal is more on the liquid end of consistency and not thick. As for brown rice, you can make brown rice khichdi with vegetables to make it tastier and more nutritious rather than eating plain brown rice. While being healthy is important, you must also love the food that you are feeding your body hence experimenting with adding fruits and veggies to your oats or rice is always a good idea!

• Raw veggies and fruits: Binge on raw vegetables and fruits as much as you can. These fruits and veggies are loaded with water content and nutrients that will not only nourish your body but also help with weight loss and replace unhealthy snacking habits. Here are some suggestions for you-

a) Beetroots: It has anti-inflammatory properties, vitamins and minerals that keep your stress acne at bay and make your skin glow while also detoxifying the body and purifying the blood.

b) Pomegranates and Strawberries: Give you supple skin, and reduce wrinkles and fine lines to make you look flawless at your wedding.

c) Nuts and Seeds: Chia seeds, sunflower seeds and dry fruits are healthy little snacks and are also rich in Omega 3 and Omega 6 which are known as the healthy fats

d) Green veggies: Eat your greens, brides and grooms! Inculcating greens in your weight loss diet for the D-Day owing to high fibre content that keeps the body full while aiding weight loss.

• What to Avoid: The first and foremost thing you must avoid is stress! Stressing out will lead to stress eating and we know the outcome of that won’t be favourable. Make your wedding planning and execution one fun activity and involve your loved ones in the preparations making it memorable instead of stress worthy.

Avoid alcohol and processed foods. As tempting as a celebratory food, desserts and alcohol may look at the time, you must avoid them at all costs.

The concluding tip for mindfully losing weight before your wedding would be to sleep and wake up on time. A good diet works only when paired with a good lifestyle and as the saying goes; Early to bed and early to rise makes a bride and groom healthy, happy and wise!