Hannah Bronfman Blasts the Idea of Losing Weight for Your Wedding

Amy Capetta
woman trying on wedding dress
Not every bride tries to lose weight for the big day. (Photo: Getty Images)

Here is one bride-to-be who doesn’t believe in joining a bridal boot camp.

Health-and-wellness guru Hannah Bronfman is the founder of HBFIT.com, an online community where the New York native shares her tips for all things related to beauty and fitness. Her most recent post focuses on how she’s preparing her body — and her mind — for her upcoming nuptials to DJ Brendan Fallis.

But if you’re searching for wedding weight-loss tips, look elsewhere.

“It seems like #sheddingforthewedding and #slimmingdownforthegown have become huge trends lately and the marketing craze of the pre-wedding slim-down has really started getting on my nerves,” wrote the 29-year-old international DJ and model. “There is so much emphasis on being ‘skinny’ for your wedding and a lot of pressure for your wedding day to be the best day of your life.”

The notion of having to lose weight for your wedding is extremely annoying and I wrote a piece for @hbfit about how I'm not giving into the pressures but rather taking care of myself — link in bio

A post shared by Hannah Bronfman (@hannahbronfman) on Apr 18, 2017 at 5:57am PDT

In fact, it’s been an ongoing trend for years. According to one study conducted by Cornell University, more than 70 percent of brides reported having the desire to shed more than 20 pounds before their big day. Also, more than one-third of these women took the extreme weight-loss route (i.e., diet pills, skipping meals), and nearly 15 percent purchased their wedding gown in at least once size smaller than their true size.

“Most women engaged-to-be-married idealize a wedding weight much lighter than their current weight,” stated lead researcher Lori Neighbors, PhD, in a press release.

Women around the globe are no different. Investigators from South Australia discovered that more than half of the brides — and bridal party members — polled planned on shrinking their waistlines, with close to 70 percent of the women claiming they’d be hitting the gym hard.

Interestingly enough, the same study author found that the brides who felt the most pressure to be thin on their wedding day actually gained the most weight six months after saying “I do.”

“My understanding of the situation is that they are restricting their eating and also exercising before the wedding, then afterward it was as though it didn’t matter anymore,” study author Ivanka Prichard, PhD, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

She added that this cycle of yo-yo dieting has the potential to lead to long-term body dissatisfaction. “I think it points to the need to promote a healthy bridal image: You don’t need to be perfect — if you are getting married, you have got a partner who loves you for who you are regardless of weight.”

And so believes Bronfman, who shared her top wellness tips (which include breathing exercises, taking adaptogenic herbs, sweating, and enjoying a hot bath) as she prepares for her special day.

“I think self-love and self-care are important everyday, and on a day you are marrying the love of you life, you should focus on feeling good and celebrating that love,” she states.

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