Mrs. In Training

Last month, our real Dubai bride Maja Lunsjo told us all about her search for the perfect wedding dress and how she eventually found her dream gown thanks to BCME vendors Bride2Be.

In her latest post, Maja addresses another concern shared by many fellow brides: how to ensure you look and feel your best whilst wearing the dress! Read on to find out Maja’s refreshing attitude towards getting fit for her wedding. Enjoy!

I love food. Especially socialising with food! Dinner dates, brunches, breakfast catch ups… most of my diary is filled with food-related social activities. Great for keeping up with friends, not so great for the wedding diet!

I have tried to take a very slow and steady approach towards getting fit for the wedding. No crash diets or crazy exercise regimes. I am happy with how I look and I am pretty sure Chris is too, so I don’t want to make any big changes for my wedding day. That being said, all the Dubai brunches have definitely taken its toll and I could do with shedding a few kilograms as well as focus on a better diet for my skin and energy levels.

The good news is, whilst I love food I also love exercising. Particularly running, spinning, combat and dance classes. Best of all, I have a great group of girls who go to the same gym as me which really helps me to stay motivated and on track. I look forward to our weekly Thursday night Zumba classes almost as much as I would a ladies night!

Whilst I am not sticking to any particular diets, here are a few key rules that I have incorporated into my daily routine to help stay on track and get as fit and healthy as possible for the wedding:

H2O – Water, water, and more water! Great for keeping the appetite in check, as well as helping your metabolism, skin and overall health. This is especially important when living in the desert! I try and get 3 litres a day.

Home cooked meals – I very rarely bring lunch to work, and can often be found at Little Bangkok or More Café with friends during my lunch break. I have recently decided to change this and have replaced my takeaway menus with cookbooks and food containers. Chris and I normally cook 3 days worth of lunches in advance and store them in the fridge, saving both money and calories!

Tracking – With a busy schedule it is easy to forget what exercise you have (or haven’t) done. I recently invested in a FitBit which I have found really helpful. It reminds me to move regularly and has encouraged me to make small changes like taking the stairs over lifts and walking more. It is really amazing to see how quickly all those little movements add up in terms of calorie burn and overall activity levels. It gives me a daily exercise target which I love because exercising and moving a certain amount each day is a much less daunting target than losing a certain amount of weight in 4 month’s time. I would highly recommend it.

Skincare – Good skin takes patience. I am hoping the water will work its magic and I will appear glowing on my big day, but to give it a little extra boost I have started using a proper skin care regime combining products from Dermalogica, Clinique, Clarins and Bobby Brown. I have also cut down on the amount of makeup I wear daily and make sure to wear SPF whenever I can.

Attitude – Like I said, I love food. This means that whilst I may have the best intention to stay healthy 100% of the time, I am going to fall off the wagon a few times. Staying positive and accepting that weighing a few kilos more or less won’t make the slightest bit of difference to the wedding is the most important part.

So my plan is simple really – Cook more, move more and stay positive!

xX Maja Xx

Don’t forget to log on next month to see Maja’s latest bridal diary post!