How to Stick to Your Diet During Engagement Celebrations

Guest Blogger: Jessica Hochstadt, MS, Nutritionist and owner of “I Do” Nutrition
Jessica was a Nutritionist and Health Educator in a Boston-based hospital before deciding to focus her practice on brides with “I Do” Nutrition—a global weight-loss service that caters to brides and their bridal parties, on their schedule. She understands that everyone has a different relationship with food, and enjoys guiding bridal parties to appreciate the importance behind meal planning, understanding nutrition, and building a healthy lifestyle. In a time where our world and kitchen cupboards have become overly saturated with misinformation about nutrition, Jessica brings the simplicity back to a field that has sustained us through life.

Photo Credit: Luca Faz/Photographer in Venice

The engagement period before your wedding is almost like holiday season. There will be a whirlwind of parties, celebrations, and plenty of reasons to try new and delicious foods — from drinks with family and friends on the weekend of your engagement to menu and cake tastings to your bridal shower and bachelorette party.

Expect to be presented with more food and drinks throughout your engagement than you will at any other time in your life. Of course, this is also the time when you're likely increasing your workouts and trying to cut back on junk food so that you'll look your best for those lifelong photos that you will hang in your house for all eternity. 

How will you manage to lose (or even maintain) weight during wedding season? Here are some easy-to-remember tips that will make your celebrations guilt- and gain-free.

Menu Tasting

► Consider what a healthy diet looks like to you, and make sure that your wedding menu includes those foods (fruits, vegetables, healthy grains). On the big day, you'll be more likely to opt for healthy fare if you have options you love.

► Enlist help. Remember that you probably won't eat much yourself on the big day (many couples find themselves too busy greeting guests, taking photos, and dancing to really indulge), so consider letting a trusted family member taste the foods instead (especially the less healthy ones, like appetizers and fried delights) in order to give you the go-ahead for which foods will be served during your big day.

► Seek out a caterer who specializes in health foods.

► Don’t eat a big lunch on the days that you know you will go menu or cake tasting. Those little bite-sized offerings count as calories and can add up.

Bridal Shower

► Make sure that whoever is planning this event for you knows that you are committed to a healthy diet, and ask if you can review the menu beforehand — not so that you can be a bridezilla and demand changes, but so that you can decide ahead of time which foods you will be indulging in. It's always smart to have a plan. 

► Ask if your host can limit the dessert offerings to one choice. If you have more than one dessert, there is a tendency to want to sample all of them.

Bachelorette Party

► You are probably going to drink on this night — but don't drink so much that you miss out on the memories of your party!  (Yes, some people drink that much.) So before you clink drinks, commit to making vodka your alcohol of choice. Vodka has fewer calories than most alcohols.

► Use juices for your mixers. They still have calories, of course, but at least they'll provide you with some nutrients along the way. 

► Do not use a straw tonight. Using a straw makes you drink faster and with less awareness of how much you’ve consumed, making it very easy to overdrink.

Tell us: What are your secrets to staying on track?

—Jessica Hochstadt