Huff, Puff and I will look great!

Penelope Goldstream continues toward her goal for the perfect wedding whilst having to confront – reality!!

The ever continuing quest for ‘perfection’ has reached my body image.

I’m in my early twenties (twenty four and eight months if we’re being specific) and throughout my life I have always carried a bit of extra weight – okay, if I’m being honest in the past I have been described by medical marvels as ‘technically overweight’.  I’m not in any sort of denial behind my reasoning for currently being 9lbs over weight.  In a nutshell I eat far more than I burn off so the calories have to create a home somewhere and for some reason they quite like my derrière region!

I’ve tried most diets under the sun (haven’t we all) and yes, provided they are followed exactly then they do work well.  The trouble for me is I’m not one for being forced to do things and if I’m not allowed something it only makes me want it even more.  I had a “brainwave” and decided to eat whatever I wanted but in order to do so, I must workout in a gym environment at least five times a week to counter balance the effects.  I have been doing this for the last eighteen months and I do feel physically fit in addition to having a reasonably toned figure.

Its exactly one year until my wedding day and I’m concerned that I may not be making as much progress on ‘the perfect body’ as I would have hoped by now.  I really don’t want to be one of these brides that has a major panic attack two months before the wedding because the dress doesn’t fit and then has to crash diet.  I do also have a slight fear of people seeing the bingo wings jiggling away as I walk down the aisle but I won’t lose any sleep over that.

I’ve been discussing body image with my H2B and he made a couple of very logical points and as this doesn’t happen to him very often I think it’s only fair that I share these with you.
1.    We have been dating for eight years and he would have left me a long time ago if my weight was an issue for him.  Thankfully it’s not!  This sounds rather shallow but I can’t think of another way to explain it and it does make sense.
2.    He doesn’t want me to be miserable (and hungry) in the lead up to our wedding and he would much prefer our wedding photo’s to resemble me rather than some miserable shell with no soul and who will inevitably ‘let herself go’ after the wedding.  This sounds harsh but it is rather true – by my own admittance I am extremely likely to over indulge afterwards especially as we are having a six week honeymoon.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is, as women, we worry far too much about pointless things than men and indeed other people don’t even notice.  Who would notice a slight double chin?  Or a discrete wobble in the bingo wing area?  Surely it’s more important to be happy, healthy (ish) and enjoy the wedding day than starve for a month for an unachievable image that won’t last anyway?
I think I’d rather be plumpish and happy all year round than diet and admit defeat whilst having to deal with the “Hasn’t she let herself go since the wedding, or perhaps she’s pregnant” comments!

So with that in mind, here’s looking forward to the wedding menu containing the trio of desserts, lemon cheesecake being my particular favourite….