I’m too fat for my wedding dress.

[jendifer]

I bought one online because the shops here have been shut for so long that I was concerned I wouldn’t get in in time. We’re aiming for July wedding and will get married then but party later if needed.

I’m too fat for it. Yes, it can be altered but I’m gutted. How much weight can I lose between now and the summer? And how?

Hi

Congratulations on your wedding firstly! A few years back I had to get into a party dress that I loved. I did the Dukan diet. Sensible; drink water, exercise and have protein heavy days, followed by veges. Everything in moderation.

I went from a 'larger' size 12 to a loose 12 in about 5 weeks and looked great in dress (if I do say so myself 😂)

I also did WW app last year. Again, sensible and really delicious recipes. I didn't lose loads of weight like stone after stone, but I lost enough that I felt comfortable again. That time round I bought a Fitbit and targeted 10k steps a day and that combined with healthy eating really helped me.

Good luck and enjoy it when it comes!

Thanks. I’m pretty sure it’s diet rather than exercise that I need to change so I’ll try the Dukan one. I have thin bridesmaids and I’m not usually insecure but this is a bit rubbish

How far off is it? If it's pretty close and just needs a few inches you should be able to fit by July.
Do you mind answering what size you are now? And what the dress is

How much too big are you? For me (5’8” and chunky even when lean) I can loose half a stone in a month easily enough if I put my mind to it, and 1.5 stone is about 1 dress size.

I lost a stone pretty quickly by doing a loose version of keto - so as low carb as poss and no sugar, it's the only diet where I've not felt starving and given in to sweet stuff.

Lose, sorry, not loose.

If its more than 1 dress size out, return it for the correct size. Life is stressful enough right now without having such an important outfit with a fixed date to diet for. Its unfair on yourself.

If you do end up dropping more than one dress size you can have it taken in.

How close are you to fitting?

Low carbing for a week will get rid of a few lb of water weight and bloating (that will go on again when you eat normally)

Re losing weight- start with logging what you are eating now on something like my fitness pal. Everything you consume for a week, drinks as well as food. See what you are really having and take it from there to see where you can make changes.

I do 2 days of the 5:2 and 1day of the 16:8 and its 1 or 2 lb a week off, about 500g. so If its worst case scenario of 1lb off a week that's a stone and a half off, maybe 2 stone as there's some if january left, about 10kg

The most important thing is not to put off beginning a healthy diet and end up starving yourself in June. You have 5 months but it will fly by.
Start now, not tomorrow. Have a sensible goal and focus on the result you want.
Good luck

@MargosKaftan

If its more than 1 dress size out, return it for the correct size. Life is stressful enough right now without having such an important outfit with a fixed date to diet for. Its unfair on yourself.

If you do end up dropping more than one dress size you can have it taken in.

Yes this. Have you put on a lot of weight since ordering it? Some online clothes outlets have unusually small sizes, e.g. if it's from China?

If you're happy with your weight and health it seems silly to diet into a dress?

That said, you could lose some weight before the summer quite sensibly. Just eat less, cut out snacks. I find stopping eating at 6pm useful so don't snack at all in the evening. Slow and steady is the way to go, don't crash diet as it never ends well.

But only do that for the right reasons. Just to fit into a too small dress seems risky, especially as it may not fit well nearer the time?

Cut out all sugar and refined carbs and do two or three 24 hour fasts a week. I do 36 hr ones and feel fine on them and have lost excess weight quickly without feeling bad. Good for insulin resistance too. I’m now cutting down the fasting gradually until I can work out what works for me with maintenance.

I'm not a fan of faddy diets. Just change your eating habits to healthier ones; changes you know you can stick to, with nothing off limits (just smaller amounts of high sugar/fat foods).

I agree with a pp. It's really helpful to record what you eat in a day, that doesn't need to be on an app, you can just write it in a notepad. Do that for a week and its surprising how you suddenly become conscious of what you're putting in your mouth and bad habits you've fallen into.

Good luck and don't put ridiculous pressure on yourself. I still think you should exchange the dress!

You could go awful hard-core on slim fast, it will be joyless, and as soon as you stop it will quickly creep back on if you don't overhaul your eating habits

I’m definitely bigger than I would like to be, and usually am but I know I’m also bigger than I’ll be happy seeing myself in wedding photos in. I’d say it’s probably about a stone to feel comfortable, maybe 1.5.

2lbs a week until summer is loads of weight so don't panic! How much would you like to lose? Xx

Maybe set yourself a target of say a few pounds in in the next two weeks and see how that goes? Sometimes getting into new habits, it takes that long to "click" and becomes easier as you start to see some results and start to feel healthier, more energy etc.. Break it into manageable baby steps.

You've definitely got a motivating goal here but again don't put too much pressure on yourself or make yourself unhappy by going hungry.

The run up to your wedding should be an exciting time.

Be warned!! If you get below a sustainable weight (for you) you will forever be looking at your wedding photos annoyed that you aren't that thin anymore....

Also try a mud (?) body wrap to lose inches. Would good underwear help? In 4 months you could lose your 1.5 stone, I wont say easily, but its doable.

I definitely used to be thinner, but i don't think lockdown has helped. I didn't realise I was as fat as I am though.

You can def do 1/1.5 stones between now and summer.

Dukan diet and fast800/5:2 are all good shouts add in 12000 steps a day and you are in business.

Start tomorrow and just get going. I got chubby and meant to lose the weight before my wedding...then didn't.
It wasn't the end of the world but I do look at the pictures and think "🙄 oh radishing!!!! 😑😑😑"

Ah it's an awful feeling when it dawns on you you've put on some gradual weight. Don't be too down on yourself, we've had a shit storm of a year and lockdown means being more sedentary stuck indoors.

You have time to lose some weight, even some small changes will make a difference over six months. I think break it down into smaller targets. It's not essential to lose one and half stones and I think that will feel too daunting. You don't want to be panic dieting!

If you're able to exchange the dress for the next size up then do that and have it altered if you have lost a significant amount.

There are some weight loss threads on here that might help you with support and friendly advice.

Keto diet (low carb, high protein, high good fats) has worked for me- first few days felt like I had the flu but after that I've not been hungry.

I've lost 1 1/2 stone since September and gone from a 'tight' 16 to a loose 14!

It's the only eating plan I've ever been able to stick at- probably because i can still have cheese and the odd gin & diet tonic!

5 years ago I lost 11 kilo for my wedding between the months of January and July . I wanted to drop some weight but to be honest I wasn’t putting a huge effort into it . I was in a new job though and on my feet all day. I was walking non stop ( 10kms a day a minimum but usually more ). My diet wasn’t horrible but it could have been better. My scale batteries had actually died and I didn’t wanna stress about my weight so I wasn’t weighing myself . It was at the end of May when people started commenting on the weight loss that I weighed myself and was shocked . So with what felt like very little effort I dropped quite a bit of weight . I know walking doesn't work for everyone but if you dread working out and aren’t great with diets then as long as you eat somewhat decently and keep yourself moving every day then you should see results .