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Last week was crazy and I apologize for not sticking to my posting schedule. As we get closer to the wedding and our move to Charleston, I suspect that things will only get more off routine. The upside, it looks like we will have a home to move in to. Expect a move in post with all the details of our new home in a couple months. In the meantime, I wanted to address something I’ve been thinking about the last few days.
I’ve been pretty down on myself the last couple of weeks for a variety of reasons but something that’s been particularly bothering me is how I seem to have plateaued in my fitness progress. I’ve been working really hard since November and it kind of feels like I can’t get over this hump that’s preventing my arms from really leaning out the way I would like. Sure my arms are the strongest they’ve ever been and when I flex hard you can see something that’s kind of impressive but in my most pictures I still just see big, undefined arms. And all I can think about is how I’ll look on my wedding day in the pictures and what people might think. Will they think I’ve been lying for the last 21 weeks about working out?
Sweating for the wedding. We see it splashed all over social media as a hashtag. There are probably thousands of fitness articles geared toward women that reference it. We witness as our lady friends and family restrict and train the heck out of themselves to achieve a certain look. I witnessed one bride at a dress fitting that I went to freaking out because she under no circumstances wanted to show any aspect of her upper arms because she was so concerned about how they looked. I’ve been thinking about just how much we women punish ourselves during what should be one of the happiest times of our lives while men don’t seem to do that. Maybe it’s because men usually are wearing a suit which easily hides any imperfections they may have but still, we don’t see men being pressured to look the best they’ve ever looked.
I have noticed that while I’m worried about how my arms will look in my dress my fiance is worried about other things, like how to make ends meet once he’s on a resident salary. That certainly seems like a much more important concern than how I’ll look in pictures but for some reason, I feel like we’ll be just fine in that department. That may just be the result of conditioning since birth to worry about physical attractiveness or it may be biological to some extent.
I’d like to tell you that I have some tips on how to overcome these feelings but as of right now, I don’t. What I fall back on is the fact that I didn’t start exercising like this just because I was getting married and wanted to look great in my dress, I started it because when I exercise I feel better. It makes me feel more balanced, helps me to be more resilient to physical stressors, and gives me a confidence boost. That doesn’t change the fact that I wish the outside was showing what I can do on the inside more. Maybe that will change in time or maybe I’ll have another breakthrough.
What I think all of us brides need to try to remember is that nothing looks better than confidence…so maybe if you’re feeling self-conscious on your big day you gotta put on those girl power tunes and dance it out before you slip into that dress. Here are a few of my current favorite badass tunes:
Let me know in the comments if you felt this way as your nuptials approached and what you may have done about it. Also, if you have any tips for what to do when you’ve plateaued even though your diet is on point and you’re working out regularly shoot over your tips. Only 12 days to go until my big day!! Start praying for me! Until Thursday!
