Calorie counts were taken from www.caloriecontrol.organd are based on 140 pound woman.
You’re a busy girl. Trust us, we know. Between wedding planning, working and trying to maintain some shred of a social life, who has time to spend hours at the gym? Not you, that’s for sure. The good news is you can get your body into wedding-dress shape by just making a few changes to your daily routine – even if it is a hectic one.


Walk it off. When you’re running those wedding errands, park a few blocks from your destination and take a brisk hike to the shop. If there’s a hill, park at the bottom and trek up it. (10 minutes of brisk walking burns over 60 calories.)

Climb your way to fitness. If you work in a skyscraper – or any building more than just a few stories high, use your usual coffee break each day to climb the stairs. Take a 15 minute hiatus from staring at your computer, hitch a ride to the lobby on the elevator and climb those stairs as high as you can. Challenge yourself to make it to higher and higher floors every few days. You may want to keep some cleansing wipes and deodorant at your desk just in case.  (15 minutes of stair climbing burns 142 calories)

Maximize your lunch break. Many of the fittest business women we know sneak off to the gym on their lunch hour. If you’re lucky enough to have a fitness center within 5 minutes of your office you can get there, change, work out, shower and be back at your desk in the same amount of time it would have taken you to linger over a bowl of chili and a magazine in your cubicle. And it’s a much more invigorating way to break up your day. You’ll likely be more focused and more productive in the afternoon – and once you punch out for the day you’ll have the entire evening to work on invitation wording or peruse wedding magazines.

Exercise while watching TV. There are plenty of muscle toning exercises you can do without taking your eyes off the latest episode of Lost. Before your favorite program comes on, bring a sturdy chair and a couple of filled bottles of water to your living room. While your eyes are glued to the screen, do bicep curls using bottles of water, tricep dips on the edge of the chair (or the sofa). Push ups, squats, leg raises, calf raises and abdominal crunches can also be easily done in your living room. 

Clean at commercials. Instead of fast forwarding your DVR during commercial breaks, let them run and take the time to speed clean and organize your living room. Dust and wipe down the furniture, vacuum the rug, store clutter. Ok, so you’ll only burn about 7 calories per 2 minute commercial break – but, hey, your house will be cleaner!

Dance, dance, dance. Is your two-left-footed fiancé getting jittery about that first dance? Convince him to take dancing lessons with you to calm his nerves. The bonus is that you’ll both get fit. Tango, cha-cha or swing your way to a trimmer waist and killer legs. And practice at home for even more calorie-burning fun. (60 minutes of swing dancing burns 252 calories.)

Jog yourself slim. Ok, so this idea will mean taking working some exercise time into your busy day. But it’s a simple as lacing up your sneakers and hitting the road for 20 or 30 minutes. To keep the workout from cutting into your day, wake up a half hour earlier than usual and get a run in before you start your day. Ask your fiancé to join you and you’ll both get some quality time together – a difficult thing to come by during all the wedding-planning mayhem. (30 minutes of jogging burns 315 calories.)

Go on more adventurous dates. If you and your fiancé typically spend your Saturdays going to dinner and a show and your Sundays lounging at the park, use that time together to get fit. Check your local listings for places where you can go kayaking, horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, rock climbing, golfing, ice skating, skiing or any other activity that gets your blood flowing. Not only will you get in shape, but it’ll be a nice break from the lazy dates you’re used to. Plus, sharing an adventure that forces you to work together as a team is also an amazing bonding experience (not to mention the adrenaline rush is always good for romance!) In one hour, horseback riding burns 268 calories, ice skating burns 386, and rock climbing a whopping 697 calories! (For calorie counts on the other activities listed go to caloriecontrol.org or type “calorie calculator” into your web browser to find other online tools that do the same.)

Make a romantic meal. Once a week – or more often if you have time – indulge yourself and your fiancé by whipping up a five-course, low-cal, healthy meal. Scour recipe books for dishes you’d both like, but that won’t bust your weight loss goals. Then do all the grocery shopping (113 calories in 30 minutes) and hit the kitchen to create your culinary masterpiece. Preparing dinner for just 45 minutes burns 103 calories.

Squeeze it in. For those of you who literally don’t have a minute to spare, you’ll need to be extra creative to sneak some activity into your day. Squeeze your glutes while driving in the car or taking a cab; close your office door and do 50 crunches between meetings; subtly sneak in some calf raises while standing on the bus or subway. Use every private moment to sneak in a little fitness.

Prepare for co-ed living. Your place or his? Whichever home you will be moving into, spend a weekend organizing it and preparing it for when you’ll live together. Rearrange the furniture, make room in the closets and dressers, box up and store anything you’ll need to get rid of to make room and take down all the super-girly (or uber-manly) décor that will leave the new roommate cringing. Rearranging furniture alone will burn up 319 calories in an hour. Is your betrothed begging you to turn your pink master bedroom into something more neutral? Painting a room will burn 638 calories in 2 hours.

Act like a kid again. The next time you and your fiancé plan a romantic picnic in the park, bring along the waffle ball and bat or Frisbee and get moving. Tossing a Frisbee back and forth for 30 minutes will burn off 100 calories.

Smooch yourself skinny. Kiss, kiss and kiss your fiancé till you both need to come up for air. 10 minutes will burn 11 calories. Ok, maybe you won’t drop 20 pounds by smooching alone, but we can think of very few better ways to burn calories.

by Karissa O'Reilly