Wedding Day Countdown: The Ultimate Beauty & Body Plan

Daily workouts? Torture. Protein and veggie diet? Mental warfare. Weekly skin sessions? Expensive. Loving how you look on your big day? Priceless.

John Herr

For my wedding, I vowed to get my skin and body in the best shape of my life. With my date just a week before my 36th birthday, I knew that it would take discipline and dedication–lets be honest, with age, simply opting for salads at lunch and slathering on a moisturizing face mask weekly isn't going to cut it. If I wanted a sleek silhouette, including the elevated booty and Madonna-like arms that would so elegantly complement my beloved Kenneth Pool "Celia" gown,  I was going to have to work for it. If I wanted to turn back the clock on sun damage, enlarged pores and those expression lines on my forehead, I was going to have to be diligent with my at-home and in-office treatments. After a few months of albeit, intense workouts, super clean eating and consistent beauty appointments, I was not only 15 pounds lighter, I was more toned all over. I had legit curves. My skin was glowing and smooth. When I slipped on my dress that day and looked at my reflection, I felt transformed.

I will preface the month-by-month plan below, that potentially could be deemed extreme by some, with this: I am a beauty girl. I write about breakthroughs, innovations, treatments, and products in beauty and fitness for a living. It's in my blood, and I know as much as anyone the power that they can have not only physically but mentally–I was willing to do it all. What you feel when you see yourself in the mirror is more than skin deep. Bottom line: do what you need to do to be your best self. I promise, your hard work and the cost will be worth it.

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Countdown: 3 Months

I have been a Barry’s Bootcamp-er for a few years, however my attendance has ebbed and flowed. I am well aware of the body benefits of HIIT training and Barry’s does not disappoint. Now that I was back in the city full time, I began booking the 60-minute cardio and strength training class three times a week to replace my personal trainer one-on-ones and kept that up all of the following month as well. After that, I increased sessions to 4-5 times per week in the final month leading up to my wedding day.

As a beauty and health writer, I have heard over and over from experts that when it comes to losing excess fat, we truly are what we eat. So as much as you try to hit the gym or bike for 60 minutes a few times a week, workouts alone cannot reverse the effects of a poor (read: carb, calorie and sugar laden diet). With 90 days to go, I knew that I could not start an extreme clean diet just yet, as that wasn’t entirely sustainable, but I began to make smart and doable tweaks. First, swapping out carbs in the a.m. for protein (a plain Greek yogurt with sliced banana, an omelet with veggies or a Juice Generation Peanut Butter Split smoothie) as well as cutting alcohol intake down to three days a week. At my first fitting, while I still knew I had more to do, I went Spanx free and visually honed in on where I needed to step it up (belly and arms!).

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