It is time to pull out that BridalFit Notebook again and open a new page for your Diet Diary. Now this could be very intimidating for some but most of the time I find that you will often learn something about yourself. The most common finding is that you tend to “treat” yourself too many times. That’s okay. You absolutely deserve a treat but a dedication to being healthy and feeling amazing on your wedding day is the goal and a slice of vanilla buttercream wedding cake is the ABSOLUTE TREAT.

Prepare a detailed diary of what she consumed in the last 3 days. WHAT DID YOU EAT? WHAT TIME DID YOU EAT IT? And HOW MUCH OF IT DID YOU EAT? This goes for fluids too. Take a moment to compare it to the diet diary entry below. What do you find?

A daily meal plan should consist of approximately six meals separated every 3 hours: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and two to three snacks. Each meal should contain healthy carbs, protein and good fat. Here’s an example:

Diet Diary: April 7st 2014 Breakfast (7:00am) 2 scrambled eggs (coconut oil), 1 sugar free wrap, ¼ avocado and 5 cherry tomatoes. 1 Glass of orange juice and 500ml bottle of water. Snack (9:30am) Baby carrots with hummus dip and 12 almonds. 500 ml bottle of water Lunch (12:30pm) Chicken & Rice bowl: ½ cup of brown rice, ¼ c. of black beans, ½ c. of roasted chicken, ¼ cup of shredded cheddar cheese and 5 roma tomatoes. 500 ml bottle of water Snack (3:30 pm) Small quinoa salad: (1/2 cup) Dinner (6:30pm) Kale Salad with ½ c of roasted chicken and olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. 500 ml bottle of water Snack (if necessary but try to avoid) Rice cracker with almond butter and apple butter

Gone are the days of eliminating fats and carbs. Here are some examples of fats, carbs and protein that are healthy and delicious. Oh, and this goes without saying, Organic all the way – what’s the point of watching what you eat if your not going to be mindful of where it comes from too.

Healthy Carbs	Healthy Fats	Proteins
Brown Rice Sweet Potato Kale Cherry Tomatoes Sugar-free Flat bread	Olive Oil Avocado Almond Milk Coconut Oil Almond Butter	Chicken/Beef/Fish Quinoa Black Beans Eggs Organic Tofu

Mix and match these ingredients together and try to keep them a raw as possible, especially the carbs and fats. Remember to drink a minimum of 8 8-oz glasses of water per day and if you are following my training program you should be drinking even more. Water plays a very important role in losing body fat.

Make things as easy as possible for yourself by prepping your food in advance. On Sunday, take an hour to precook your food for the next three days and then repeat this process on Wednesday night. It sounds more complicated than it really is.  Once you make this a habit you will be pleasantly surprised with all the benefits you will gain by eating regularly and healthy.

 

Lara Marq is a contributing writer to the Bridal Guide.