Similar to the tale of the Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and the Bride (BATB) will examine a relationship fraught with mistrust, deception, fear, and hopefully, a happy ending.  BeautyXposé will follow BATB as she traverses the perilous landscape of wedding-day beauty leading up to her September nuptials.  Have a question for BATB?  A topic you’d like her to cover?  A conspiracy you’ve uncovered in the Wedding Industrial Complex (WIC) you’d like exposed?  Email her at: beautyandthebride@beautyxpose.com.

Working Toward a Goal

So I did it.  I took some birthday money, one of my bridesmaids and a whole lot of courage and made the trip out to get my wedding dress last week.  While not as painful as I thought it would be, it certainly wasn’t a moment of joy and tears and giggles.  As I expected (though still managed to hope against), the dress didn’t fit.

Now it didn’t not fit to the point that I wasted my money, but it wasn’t exactly CLOSE either.  Self motivation for exercise and diet has always been a big challenge for me.  But not anymore!  Now I have a physical manifestation of my exact goal.  It’s sitting in my guest room closet.

So for the past eight days (since I got my dress), I’ve exercised seven of them.  In the past eight days I’ve been to the gym more than I have since I got the membership six months ago.  And I’m not just going and wasting my time – 45 minutes of cardio and a rotation of arm, leg, and ab workouts.  When I don’t go to the gym, I’m doing an hour of hockey practice once a week.  I took one day off – Sunday – because I couldn’t lift up my arm to hold my water glass and decided that was a good reason to give my body a break for the day.

While I have never spent so many continuous days in pain (my arms, my legs, my arms, my legs, my back, my ankles, ugh, my arms), I’m already seeing the results.  I’m going to give myself another week – then I’m going to try my dress on again.  I’m not expecting it to fit perfectly, but I’m hoping it’ll be closer.  If not… well then we’ll figure something else out.  There’s enough time… hopefully…

What motivates you? How do you find the power to reach your fitness goals? And how do you manage them to make sure they’re realistic?

Photo Credits:  Cover image – Ariel da Silva Parreira; Inside image – Terry Crouch (via StockXchange)