This summer, Women’s Health magazine featured musician, Lizzo, as their cover star. Intrigued by her fitness journey, Horsham-based female personal trainer, Becky, bought a copy… and was surprised to find an even better piece than she anticipated…
I found Lizzo a great choice of cover star, and was excited to hear about her fitness journey. She’s often come across as honest, and her transformation has been clear via her social media. She’s also a different size and shape to Women’s Health’s typical cover models, and I very much appreciate that kind of representation. I’m terrible these days for buying magazines and never making the chance to follow through and read them, and reminded myself to pick this up when settling down for lunch recently, and started flicking through.
Shedding for the wedding opinion piece
As I skimmed the early pages of the magazine, my eyes fell on a one-page article headline: “Shedding for the wedding? You might regret it – I do”, and my jaw fell open. This is something that I very rarely hear people express, although I often hear people saying that they want to get slimmer for their wedding, and I was intrigued. The article was by Lucy Klemt, a dietitian and PT, which had me even more hooked. It is fairly common in certain circles for fitness people to talk about recovery from disordered behaviours, but I hadn’t seen anything quite like this before.
I really enjoyed Lucy’s honesty, as she discussed how dieting for her wedding didn’t fully align with her values, but she felt the urge to do it anyway. She enjoyed the day enormously, but feels that the photos – gorgeous as they are – don’t reflect who she is on a day to day basis, and the person that her friends and family know and love. Perhaps most compellingly, she said this: “Planning a wedding was stressful enough; by attempting to drop a dress size, I was adding another layer of expectation on to a day piled high with them.”
Pre-wedding fitness
With peak holiday season just having finished, I’m sure there are lots of newly-engaged people out there who are contemplating a 2026 or 2027 wedding. If, during this process, your thoughts are turning to dieting or a fitness kick, I’d urge you to pause and think about what your reason for that line of thinking is.
As a personal trainer, I advocate for year-round and lifelong fitness. That we exercise to keep our bodies and minds as healthy as possible for as long as possible, and to be physically resilient. So, in my opinion, getting fitter is almost always a good idea. The issue comes when our primary concern is not just aesthetics, but meeting a standard that we believe has been set by someone else, or matching the expectations of other people in a way that makes us physically and emotionally uncomfortable.
I’ve often heard of wedding days as being a feat of endurance for the happy couple – you are hosting the party as well as being the reason for it, which involves a lot of greeting guests and working the room, in addition to posing for lots of photos (which I do know from experience is hard work!). And so being fit for that purpose makes total sense for me, so that you hopefully have the energy to enjoy whatever festivities you choose to organise.
And that contradicts some diet and exercise programmes – to return to Lucy’s Women’s Health article, she said that her diet, “took its toll on my body and mind. I’d finish each day feeling exhausted.” I’m certain that being part of a wedding can be exhausting, so if you’re not appropriately rested and fuelled, you’re making achieving that much more difficult.
If you’d like to get stronger and fitter for life in a tailored and sustainable way, get in touch and we’ll chat about how I can help.