By Eman Agpalza
“No one wants to look at their pictures and say Oh my God, I look fat!” says Marie Olave about her motivation to lose some weight before her wedding date.
“Those pictures last a lifetime,” she adds. For couples planning a wedding, some may say the weight of wedding preparations is enough to keep them from lifting the weight in the gym. But the benefit of being in shape transcends looking immaculate on that special date.
“I would love to live to see our future children grow up and have children of their own. We don’t want to have to deal with medical bills or have to take medication for the rest of our lives,” says Kimberly Galupe, a pharmacy technician who is engaged to marry Philip Lacap on May 28, 2011.
“In order to have a happy and healthy life together, you need to be healthy individuals from start to finish,” says Paul Taylor, owner and head trainer of the Brickhouse Gym.
Taylor adds that having a fitness routine before a couple decides to get married sets a standard on how they’re going to live for the rest of their lives.
“It doesn’t have to be extreme, it could be small things. Nobody says you have to give up your favourite food. Just don’t have it all the time,” says Olave.
Rewards are something Olave and her then fiancé, Tony Lospe, used to motivate each other.
“Whoever loses the most weight gets a reward.” Olave and Lospe set a friendly competition, with the winner being the one who lost the most weight.
Both dedicated one year to get in shape for their August 1, 2010 wedding date. They reached their goals six months later and maintained their weight for the rest of the year until the date of their wedding. Olave lost 23 pounds and Lospe 50, making him the challenge winner.
Olave confesses and laughs, “I still owe him a snowboard.”