Walking My Way Into My Wedding Dress
August 11th, 2008 @ 1:40 pm by Mrs. Shortcake
So far, my pre-wedding exercise regime has consisted of speed walking to and from work everyday. I walk at a brisk pace to my job, in order to get there early (or at least as the clock strikes), and I sprint home in order to avoid the clouds of Winnipeg-brand mosquitoes in the evening. I originally started walking to work (which is over 2 km away) so as to save money on bus passes, and have continued since then, as daily walking proved not only to be a wallet-saver, but a really, really good way of slimming down. To date, walking at least 4 km per day (with 8 km on double shifts days not being rare), has helped me to lose over ten pounds! This is such a welcome benefit, as working full-time has ‘prevented’ me from seriously sticking to any sort of fitness program. 
Walking so far everyday has also increased my endurance, and has decreased the number of tachycardiac episodes I experience every week. Hooray!
Now that all my invitation drama has subsided, I’m looking forward to spending the next two months working on toning up my body for the wedding (and subsequent beach honeymoon).
(image source here)
One site that has really intrigued me is One Hundred Push-Ups - a site that proposes a muscle-building routine composed solely of - you guessed it- push-ups. Seeing as push-ups are my absolute least favourite exercise, I think it would be a good challenge. If not that, at least it would be comedic relief for Mr. Shortcake, who trumped my initial fitness “test” result of 8 push ups with a whopping 40 of his own!
Sister Shortcake has also been kind enough to send me her Turbo Jam DVDs, a set of exercise videos that have helped her to kick-butt her way into better shape. We’ll see how that goes, as my coordination when it comes to full-body movements is rather limited! 
If all else fails, there’s always unconventional methods, I suppose…
(images source here)
How are you getting (or staying in) shape for your wedding?
Related Posts
29 Responses to “Walking My Way Into My Wedding Dress”
Zumba twice a week, kickboxing three times a week. If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.
For me, running has always been a good way to slim down when time is an issue. When I was toning my arms, I used the FIRM DVDs (especially Jiggle-free Arms because it’s 30 minutes) and really liked the results.
I ordered the buff brides book, but didn’t really care for the plan, it’s hard for me to motivate myself from a book.
Becky
I have been trying to walk M-F in our neighborhood (about 1 1/2 mile loop with plenty of hills) but only get in about 3 days a week. I have also been doing a boot camp for about 3 months. Its crunch time now!
marathon training! right now i’m two months from the chicago marathon and in the best shape of my life. i get (have) to eat everything in sight but am as skinny as ever. such things happen when you run 6 (sat), 16 (sun), 10 (today) miles on a regular basis.
my wedding is in sept 2009, so i’m planning on running the disney marathon in january 2010. just enough time so that i won’t be stressing over missing a few training runs, but i’ll still be putting in the effort/distance so that i look fabulous.
a good rule of thumb is that you burn 100 calories for every mile you move — be that running or walking.
i can’t imagine my wedding day without a morning run.
I just started Week 3 of Hundred Pushups. I’m already married but needed another goal after the wedding. It’s intense!
Girl, Join 100 pushups with us! There’s a whole underworld of blogging brides who are part of it! They’ve dubbed me an office, code name “The Bride with the Pipes” so I now annoint you ready to join
C’mon - how awesome will our arms look after 6 weeks? Its fun!
Broke-Ass Bride
i wonder how many people actually subscribed to that tape worm diet. so icky!
i try my best to walk as much as possible [pretty easy when you work in a city enviroment] and i go to yoga.
You did 8 pushups?!? Holy cow. Please make me feel better and tell me those were ‘ladies pushups’. I did the test and couldn’t even do ONE real one. Man, I am so in trouble…
Ha, I’m with you Miss Sea Breeze! I can’t even do one push-up anymore! Back in college when I was training for track and cross country and actually in decent shape, I could maybe do 10. So sad. lol
Yeah, I’m in with Dana- Broke Ass Bride- on the push up challenge…I did 50 this morning! Whatever happened to ask Mr Shortcake? And way to go on your walking!
I’ve got a crazy muscle person trapped inside me. In middle school, I was the only girl in my year who could do one (yup, count it, ONE) pull-up, and although I’m nowhere near 100 push-ups, I heart me some weight lifting, including circa 100 pound exercises for my back (where, apparently, most of my muscles hang out). Yea for girl power! 
I actually switch off between lady push ups and “dude” pushups, because I feel like its helping me be well-rounded… but don’t worry! You’ll improve so fast, that’s the beauty of it. The results are really tangible and it takes so little time. I did 41 the other day and couldn’t believe it!
I was born with bad muscle tone, so if a mushy like me can do it, so can a sea-breeze or a shortcake!
BAB
Do not underestimate the power of push-ups. I’ve been doing 30 pushups every day since January 1 as part of a New Year’s resolution and the changes in my body are definitely noticeable. My arms have never looked better (including when I had a personal trainer) and my stomach is flat and defined. It only takes a few minutes and the results are huge. And don’t worry if you can’t do 30 all at once. build up with smaller sets and double up the day after if you forget to do them one day.
exercise — oh man, I haven’t started.
I have 9 months. I’m starting a cardio striptease class (1x/week) in December (for 6 months) and have been walking from work to graduate school - only a mile (2x/week), but its a start).
Thinking pilates will balance my naughty dancing for the last 2 months (2 sessions/week) and tone me up.
I better look hot after all that work!
@Raeann: I’ve been walking to work since the end of April - so four months in total
@Miss Sea Breeze: I did 8 “man”push ups - but I was sweating and swearing at Mr. Shortcake the whole time!
@jenniferb: I wrote another installation of ask mr shortcake, but because some readers had objected to a male giving fitness advice, it wasn’t posted. 
He’s started his own blog though (theoddbody.blogspot.com), and will be doing workouts on there, so feel free to check him out!
Tennis on the weekends, and then I do a combination of an intense yoga/pushup sequence combined with selections from the NYC Ballet Co. Workout, which is amazing. Once a week or so the boy puts me through a rigorous push-up circuit that kicks the crap out of me but I feel SO GOOD afterwards! We’re also instituting Dance Party Mondays, where we dance for real(z) for a good hour on Mondays to let off steam and to hone our dance moves for October, with the added bonus of getting a workout from practicing the Twist (we’ve been watching way too much Mad Men, clearly!).
Re: Mr. Short providing workout tips–that’s just a tough area to navigate in the blogosphere. It’s so much fun to work out with someone you love if you’re both into it because you can get great “tough love” and you push yourself. It’s just difficult to translate that to a blog because there are so many dudes out there who kind of ruin it for every well-meaning guy out there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JMOh-cul6M
POWER BARSSSS!!! 
@elizabeth: I’ll get mr shortcake to watch it first - I have “sensitive ears” Mr. Shortcake is a personal trainer and nutritionist, but his blog isn’t going to be a “do this, do that” - it’s more just about him - a personal rather than a niche blog.
Your workout sounds intense! I have the NYC ballet dvds as well, but I haven’t done them in forever, maybe I should dig them out!
i’m finding that spending all my money on invitations and caterers and wedding bands to be a great way to lose weight! i can’t afford the fatty foods i love.
but joking aside, we cut almost all of our take out from our lives in an attempt to save money and it’s made us healthier too. i’m also a lot less willing to waste grocery money on snack foods and ice cream.
hooray for being broke!
I go to a class called ‘boxercise’ - it’s as fun as it sounds!
Lol, oh yuuuck at the “sanitized tape worms”! How dirty!
But good for you for walking to & from work everyday- that’s absolutely fantastic that you’ve been able to lose 10 lbs.
I just started the pushup challenge and no worries on the 8 — I could only do 11, and then felt like my arms were going to fall off for the next day!
I run, bike, and swim (triathlons) on a regular basis, so the pushups are just for some toning. I love cardio but hate strength training! Hence the pushup challenge.
Oh yeah — and my 11 pushups were definitely the “girly” pushups. I couldn’t even do ONE of the normal kind.
[...] Luckily for me, because I am tall, I didn’t need any hemming. However, there were some alterations that were unexpected - I’m having almost two inches taken in on both sides of my waist! I posted before about how walking everyday to work was causing weight loss. [...]
Mrs. Shortcake, Vancouver
Age and Occupation: 24, Marketing Manager/Children's Lit Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Master's Student/Personal Trainer
Engagement Date: August 7, 2007
Wedding Date: October 2008
Blogging Since:
Venue: Ceremony in a historic church, tented lawn reception at a golf and country club
About Me: 1950's housewife sent to the future, reborn as crafting-obsessed, jill of all trades. I enjoy decorating, writing, baking sweet things, singing show tunes/dancing in public, wearing pearls, and knitting sweaters for my furbaby, Harvey, to chew upon. I heart pink, and believe that sparkles are the new black.
I’ve been considering starting to walk to work, just like you, actually! How long have you been walking to work?