My soon-to-be in-laws are coming to the US this Friday and this whole past week, my mother and I have been taking care of wedding things, until 9 - 10PM. We've been eating at restaurants A LOT and I only exercised 4 times last week. I feel *SO* fat and gross right now and I just know the next few weeks will be filled with similar busy-ness and restaurant food. And I'm dreading my in-laws' arrival too ... it will throw me into complete upheaval.

I want to just... go to work, come home, exercise, make dinner and then do homework, but there's SO MUCH to do for the wedding and I just feel exhausted and fat.

Make sure you're getting enough water so that you're not bloated.

Is it possible you can exercise in the morning before work?

What about asking your mom to go for a walk with you while you guys discuss wedding plans?

Where are your soon to be inlaws from? Maybe you could sneak in some exercise while giving them a tour of your home town on foot.

As far as restaurants, it's really hard to eat well when dining out. The temptations are just too high. You could either a) go for the healthiest thing on the menu, or b) go for what you want in smaller quantities.

Or, maybe, depending on your relationship with mom, you could tell her your situation and ask her to brown bag something and meet at a park instead? The only time in my life when my mom/g-ma weren't trying to force unhealthy food on me was right before my wedding. :P

I just got married a few weeks ago. I was insane and couldn't hold an intelligent conversation for a week before the nuptials.
You will get over this. I wish I had relied on all the people who offered to help instead of insisting on doing most of it myself. What happened was I ended up running out of time, and my sis and BFF had to pull double shifts helping me get everything done, so I ended up feeling more overwhelmed and guilty that I had needed them so badly they couldn't say no.
So, farm out some work if you can. I remember wanting desperately to go running by myself for an hour to get away, but because I had procrastinated on things, I had no time and wouldn't go while my girls were still working on stuff.
You have taken off a great deal of weight, and everyone is going to think you're beautiful anyway. Bribe your friends to bring you healthy food! If your Mom brings you crap, cry and and ask for a salad. These are times of Great Stress! Do what you have to do! Power to you, my Sister! POWER!!

You can eat in restaurants, order salad with dressing on the side, dip your fork in the dressing and then the salad, you will save calories. Do not order things that are fried, Avoid sauces and gravies.Ask the waiter to take the bread basket away, if you must have a hamburger,eat the meat but do not eat the bun and no french fries or onion rings.

Eating in restaurants...

1) See if anyone is interested in sharing an entree. It cuts the cost and more importantly the serving size. One of our local restaurants will even "split" french onion soup, serving each half in its own little bowl with cheese on top!

2) If they are fancier restaurants think about having two appetizers instead of an appetizer and an entree. I know lots of folks who do this at the most expensive restaurants in town (although they may have 3-4 appetizers.) It is called small plate eating. I like it not only because the portions are smaller but because the appetizers are often more interesting that the entrees.

3) Ask for any sauces, salad dressing etc on the side. Restaurants are the model for "have it your way". I sometimes find that I eat better when we are eating out frequently because I have healthy items that I don't make at home, and they are often better prepared.

This is a stressful time, think about not aiming to lose, just to maintain.

Enjoy the wedding, it should be a wonderfully happy day!

This is an excellent tip! My husband and I do this at really nice Asian restaurants, since the actual entrees are so huge {and expensive}. We could either spend $40 for the two of us, and each get one thing that we'll end up taking home...or spend $25 and get 4 different things. Definitely a plus. :P

I don't know what kind of diet you're on, but there are some healthier options out there. I rarely eat out, but if it's fast food, I opt for a Taco Bell soft chicken Fresco taco, or a BBQ chicken breast and steamed veggies at our local semi-fast food BBQ house. And if it's something a little nicer, I'll have the Venetian Chicken at Olive Garden, or the smallest steak on the menu at Outback and order a side of veggies prepared without oil or butter. Rather than a salad, I order an extra helping of veggies -- that way I don't have to worry about the salad dressing calories.

Applebees is great because they have the weight watchers menu with the calorie count right on the menu.
If you go for Mexican get fajitas with corn tortillas, stay away from the chips and ask for rancho beans instead of refried. Just leave the rice on the plate.
We went to Outback last night and hubby and I split the Alaskan crab. I got a sweet potato with the toppings on the side so I could just dip my fork into them and then the sweet potato. I was careful with the bread. I think I did fine. I was very careful with the butter on the crab too.
Olive Garden has apricot chicken which is good and lower cal. They will serve the salad with your dressing on the side so you can control that.
Red Robin has a chicken platter, ensenada chicken I think it's called.
Do you have a Calorie King book? You can look in there for what is a good choice before you get to the restaurant or look it up online.
Congrats on the wedding and just try to enjoy it. Don't stress over the little things, they aren't what you will remember anyway.

Hi everyone -- thank you so much for all of your suggestions and kind words. I think that eating out will be inevitable for the next 2 and a half weeks, as my fiance's parents will be here and will want to be out, sightseeing, etc etc. And I think my plan just needs to be to stick to eating low carb, even at restaurants, even everyday. The truth is, more than eating at home, I just want a quiet night at home with my fiance, have dinner, exercise a bit, etc etc.

I've been feeling like SUCH an enormous pig lately -- I don't know if I actually gained weight or if I'm just bloated and full, but I feel tremendous. I've also been finding it hard to stick to my low-carb plan lately too. Or I feel like I spend so much time planning -- planning the wedding, planning projects for school, planning an exhibition at the gallery -- that sticking to my food plan is really challenging. But as of tonight, my very next meal, I'm going to fix myself something, at home, that is low carb and packed with vegetables and protein.

Oh! And Kofarq -- congratulations on your recent marriage Honestly the stuff we've been doing are things really only I can do -- like my dress fitting -- but I'm just starting to feel overwhelmed by it all.

Hang in there. You sound like you are doing great for being in the final stages of wedding planning.

You will have plenty of those nights at home with the hubby in the years to come. Just have to finish this mad dash to the alter first!

Enjoy what you can and endure the rest. It will all be memories you will cherish together in the future.

Good Luck!

D