Opportunity or Stress Inducer?

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The fiance and I generally eat decently, and while we exercise, it's what you'd call sporadic at best. We both like to walk and I also run. I usually end up signing up for 2-3 road races through out the summer because it takes the "you just paid $35 to run a 10K, get your butt on the road" to keep me on track.

I've been thinking though that with our long engagement, F & I could have the ultimate motivator on our hands: Wedding, Wedding Photos, Wedding Tux, and Wedding Dress (eek!). We have about 15 months ahead of us, so why not make the most of it? My theory is that if we can use the wedding to re-mold our eating and exercise habits for 15 months, it might stick after the wedding!

We've decided to make a concerted effort to make better food choices, cut back on nights out and alcohol consumption, take lunch to work more often, and try to walk together 3 times a week. We also talked about trying out the South Beach Diet together, but we're opting for baby steps right now. In addition, I've ramped up my running of late (I'm supposed to run this on labor day).

I've known other couples who have bought gym memberships together in preparation for their wedding and subsequent beach honeymoon. We also know a couple doing Weight Watchers together to get ready for their December wedding.

Having a buddy to go through this with is great--raise your hand if you had a work-out buddy sophomore year of college to lose the freshman15 (me!). But I could also see how it could create extra wedding stress as the day gets closer. Will it create too much pressure? Will there be nit-picking over the how much pasta we're eating or skipping a work-out? possibly, but we think the potential health benefits make it worth a shot.

Are you doing anything special diet and exercise related in preparation for your wedding?