INTERVIEWS - Marci Warhaft

FIT VS FICTION: FITNESS AND BEAUTY FOR BRIDE AND GROOM – Marci Warhaft

1. Tell me about yourself and your profession?

My name is Marci Warhaft-Nadler and I am the founder of Fit vs Fiction, an interactive workshop for students, teachers and parents, designed to expose society’s dangerous interpretation of fitness and beauty and explain the true meaning of healthy living. My goal is to get men and women of ALL ages to worry less about how their bodies look and more about how well they work and feel. After working for over 20 years in the fitness industry as a personal trainer mainly focused on building strong exteriors, I am now dedicated to helping people feel as good about WHO they are as how they look.

2. Many Brides and Grooms stress themselves out with fast unhealthy diets in order to reach the ‘Barbie & Ken’ doll look on the day of their wedding. What can be your word of comfort to these people?

It’s very important that brides and grooms remember the BIG picture. It’s easy to become so focused on the wedding DAY that they forget the entire lifetime of days that follow it. The engagement period can be very emotional, with all the planning and stress that can come with it, but often, it is also the first of many times when the bride and groom will be working together, as a team, to make big decisions. The last thing either partner should be dealing with is extra stress from being overtired and underfed. They NEED to remember what’s truly important and that’s the future that they are planning together.

When it comes to building a healthy self-esteem, it’s important to get started right away. Why wait any longer to feel great about yourself, inside and out? If the couple wants to improve their fitness level, they should NOT wait until just a few weeks before the wedding to do so or the pressure they feel will undermind their progress. STRESS makes the body hold on to excess weight, so the key is to RELAX. They should not bother focusing on a specific amount of weight they want to lose and should instead make it about FEELING their best and strongest. The fitter they get, the better they’ll feel and that will help them look their best. They need to find physical activities they ENJOY and will stick with. Gym workouts are great for some people, while others might prefer playing sports or taking dance classes. The idea is the make being active FUN. REMEMBER: Whatever fitness plan you take on, the thought process behind it should be that you are doing something good for yourself because you love your body, not punishing yourself because you don’t.

4. Seeing that society nowadays is full of negative messages especially in your self appearance and matrimony itself is a positive message. How would a Bride/Groom with little self-esteem tune out these negative messages?

While being in good physical condition can boost our self-esteem, we also have to keep in mind all of the other things that make us special. When getting married, the bride and groom need to remember that they are getting married because they are LOVED for who they are right NOW. There is no need to make big changes. A good exercise I have my clients do, is to write down all the things they like about themselves that have NOTHING to do with how they look. It’s important to remember that we are so much more than the size we wear and the number on a scale. It’s also important, that between all the craziness of wedding planning and any new fitness program the couple may be undertaking, they need to save time to pamper themselves , either together or separate ( romantic dinners, spa days, etc..) this will help them stay balanced and keep some of the stress away.

5. What would your advice be to a bride or groom-to-be on how they can be themselves on the day of their wedding without worrying too much about what’s going on around them and on their appearance?

They do not work. Research proves that 95% of people who diet to lose weight, end up gaining it all back. Listen to your body, work with it, not against it. Make sure you are eating enough, so that your metabolism stays strong. Restricting caloric intake can result in a slower metabolism and unintentional weight GAIN. Eat foods that nourish and satisfy. Let’s face it, dieting makes people moody and unpleasant to be around, this should be an incredible time in your life; nobody wants to hang around with a hungry, exhausted, bride or groom to be. Do not try to be someone “Different” on your wedding day. Your bride or groom loves YOU and wants to marry YOU, not some alternate version that you THINK is better. People love weddings because they are full of promise. There’s nothing like seeing two people in love devote themselves to each other in front of family and friends who love and support them. If the couple is worrying about how they LOOK or thinking about the french fries they haven’t allowed themselves to eat for months, that feeling is lost. When a couple decides to get married, they are agreeing to love and accept eachother through whatever comes their way and that’s what they need to keep in mind. Society and magazines will always tell us that we need to be prettier, thinner or more muscular; but that’s just because that with the beauty industry making over 40 Billion dollars a YEAR, they NEED us to feel like we’re not good enough so that we’ll take their advice and buy their products. Know yourself. Trust yourself. Every bride wants to feel absolutely beautiful on their wedding day and the truth is, if they can be IN the moment, enjoy what’s going on around them and appreciate the adventure they’re about to begin, their beauty will be obvious. Hairstyles and dress styles change, looking back at wedding photos years down the road, a bride and groom may look at the fashion choices they made and think, “What were we thinking?” But, if they keep their focus where it should be on their wedding day, they won’t be asking, “What were we feeling?” That will be easy…they were feeling happy.