Throughout our many years of planning weddings we have known many brides who state that they “would like to get in shape” for their wedding day. We have asked Natalie Hildon, director of Yafit Health and Fitness Retreats to give everyone the best advice out there to achieve this.

Hi to all of you wonderful women out there who are looking forward to your big day!!

My name is Natalie Hildon and I am the director of Yafit Health and Fitness Retreats held in the sunny south of Spain. I have lived in the Cadiz province of Spain for 18 months and I deliver daily fat burning Bootcamps, Nutritional Seminars, Yoga classes and Personal Training, mainly outside in the sun!!

Over the 15 years I have worked in the fitness industry I have helped hundreds of women achieve their goals of a healthier, fitter body and mind. I have also heard every excuse under the sun…..one woman even told me she had too many holidays a year to be able to stay slim!!! Lucky her!

The key to achieving the body you want for the day of your dreams is to plan ahead and change your way of life well before the event. The key to changing your life in regard to health and fitness is to understand firstly that it is a way of life. It is a set of rules which you can easily (yes I do mean easily!!) apply to your weekly routine which can change your body dramatically.

Let me give you the good news first…..

 You don’t have to spend hours in the gym, 25 mins, 4 times a week in your own home will create the body of your dreams.
 You can still have one day a week where you can eat/drink the bad stuff and it won’t affect your results (unless you eat 20 mars Bars!!)
 You never have to eat diet food or diet shakes
 You might actually enjoy it!!

How does that sound?

Too good to be true?

I promise you that’s how I live my life. That’s me on the picture of the retreat by the way so you can see I am the real deal!!

Unfortunately, in this short article I haven’t got the time to tell you everything I know about getting the body you want and changing your life…forever (that’s why you need to come and enjoy our retreat).

However, I am going to give you my top 5 tips to burning maximum fat and looking great on your big day:

1. Hire a personal trainer or go on YouTube and find as many intensive fat burning workouts you can do in the comfort of your own home or at the gym. You will need to be working with weights and/or your own bodyweight in the exercises. This will help create lean muscle mass which is fantastic for fat burning. The key is to pay for or find the information which helps you to do the correct exercises. You do not burn high levels of fat effectively by running, walking or cycling so don’t waste your time and energy on this type of exercise!! Remember you also only need to work out for 25-30 mins!!

2. Lower your carbohydrates and eat more protein. Bread is the enemy!! Bin it!! All processed carbohydates such as pasta, bread, cakes etc are full of sugar. They are also processed in the body in the same way as sugar is processed which generally means fat storage!! Eat lots of vegetables, (potatoes only twice a week), especially green veg with two of your daily meals. Eat as much as you want but stay away from all processed carbohydrates. Eat more protein such as eggs, fish and meat, this will help you to create more lean muscle mass which will help you burn more fat.

3. Don’t eat sugary foods for breakfast. This is one of the hardest things to change, but if you can your daily fat burn will skyrocket!! Cereals and bread are full of sugar (yes all cereals!). Eat eggs, (cooked any way you wish), bacon, turkey, chicken, salad or/and veg for breakfast. Yes I am sure you are now saying I am mad but if someone could promise you that this would help you maximise fat burn would you not try? Well I am promising you!!

4. Cut out alcohol and fizzy drinks for 6 days of the week. This will make a massive difference to your body. I also mean diet drinks which are actually just as bad as the normal kind. Diet foods and diet drinks have now been proven to make you crave sweet foods more!! Hence they actually make you fatter!! Drink water, de-caf tea and pure juices (with no fake sugars). Remember you can have a treat once a week (mine is fizzy pink cava!)

5. If you have any opportunity in your day to lift your heart rate do it! For example if you have stairs at work, run up them, if you see a hill, run up it, if you get off the bus, sprint home. I mean it!! Any opportunity to push your body anaerobically (that means without oxygen) will create an oxygen debt to the muscles which means your body has to burn fat until the debt has been paid off. Even if you only push the heart rate for 20 seconds you can burn fat for part of your day!!

If you follow my top tips you can look great for your wedding day!! However….what about applying these rules after the wedding too? Imagine looking back on your wedding pictures and being able to say you are still the same dress size 12 years later?

I can…will you?

You can follow us on Facebook and on the web at Yafit

Adios and good luck
Natalie x