Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Bodfather: A Little Less to Love

Subject #1 in the "Bodfather" 

Witness Reduction Program: Kerensa
First Check-in

Height: 5'7"
Starting weight:  254.8
Current weight: 249.2
Loss: 5.6 lbs.

It’s a dilemma.

Your big day – your wedding day – is there on the horizon.

You’ve got a reception to plan and you have to decide which crazy scripty font to put on your invitation.

And then there’s the matter of a dress.

Kerensa, the first participant in my “Bodfather” program, is scratching her head about when she should choose a wedding gown, given her recent success on the scale.

To those of you just checked in, my role as the Bodfather is to oversee a few selected individuals and give them any assistance I can as they work to lose weight and get more fit. Besides all the email support and encouragement I can muster, I’ve used my connections to hook them up with a free Philips DirectLife activity monitor to help them see how much (or how little) they’re moving during the course of a day.

Kerensa, a college student living in Oklahoma who’s always struggled with her weight, is getting married in June of next year and wants to be slimmer by summer. 

Which brings us back to the gown…

Does she go on and get one now and be mindful that it may have to be altered on account of her shrinking frame?

Does she wait a bit longer and see how this weight-loss business goes over the next few months?

Does she just paint her body white and drag a sheet behind her?

Kerensa is so confused about it that she’s actually asked my advice about the dress. Isn’t it enough that I’m riding shotgun on her weight-loss journey, catering the big event, giving her away at the ceremony and performing a medley of cowboy yodeling hits at the reception?

I’m sure that you’re going to provide her better advice on the wedding dress question than I’ve been able to thus far. I just want her to keep pushing herself, keep making smart choices about food, and keep rocking that scale.

And whatever dress she chooses, I hope it’s something that’s adjustable…



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21 comments:

  1. two words - Alfred Angelo.

    beautiful plus sized dresses at not too omg are you kidding me prices. if you weren't 4 inches taller than me I'd give you mine lol! I bought my dress in March and was married in August..so..you've got some time. The large weight loss and muscle reconstructions will taper off a bit as time goes by (you lose SO fast at the beginning!) so I'd wait until the spring..Make sure you buy from a store that offers free alterations. Get the last alteration 3 weeks before the wedding - that should do it:)
    last tip - if you get one that ties up in the back you've got a little more room to work with either way.

    FANTASTIC weight loss this week!!
    xo

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  2. I get it now. Bodfather is a take on Godfather.
    Not sure about the dress. I know my wife bought hers in advance. But a 5.6 pound loss is great! Keep it up!

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  3. Definitely need to wait on the dress...yes, they do alterations....but she doesn't need to get altered to adjust for a 20-30 lb loss, or even more. Put the dress on the back burner and concentrate on just how much you can drop between now and say...April. Then worry about the dress shopping. There's plenty of time. :)

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  4. That is so awesome on the weight loss first of all!!

    I have never done the 'marriage' thing (not yet...) BUT I have had to make decisions on formal dresses and can honestly say it's better to wait as long as you can. That way you have a better idea of how the dress will fit you come the big day!

    Good luck chica!!

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  5. Well, Id say. Look at dress styles, figure out something that you "like", cause god knows its going to be hell waiting to look for a dress. Dresses are about personality. have your dress match you and have it fit into your weight loss! find out whats the longest it takes to order a dress, how long alterations could take, and figure out from there when the best time to order is. You might fall in love with a dress that takes 2 months to get in, and 3 weeks for alterations! or it could be an in store stock with a day's alterations, Find out your time frame go from there and Keep losing! You look amazing! And Those are AMAZING results! I know you will be the most beautiful bride ever! Even if you go with body paint and a sheet... ;)

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  6. I agree! Start looking now for a dress, but wait until late spring to actually purchase. It is more difficult and costly to take a dress in four sizes than to just tuck it down one size!

    Keep in touch with your bridal store, and make sure of the alteration time before you order!

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  7. Look around and see what styles you like the most and then wait to buy. You might like an entirely different dress by the time you do buy a dress based on your body shape. I know my tastes have changed as I've lost weight and my body has shrunk.

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  8. Way to go Kerensa!!! Great start!! Congrats to you and the Bodfather!!!

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  9. Yea I would wait on the dress for sure. Way to go Kerensa on the great loss so far!!!

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  10. Great job on the loss! Whoohooo! I'm not a girly girl so I have no idea when the dress needs to be bought/ordered in relation to the date of the big day. no clue at all. :-/ I think if it was me- maybe Id wanna wait a lil bit to see how much I weighed in a couple of months then go? I'm no help! lol

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  11. Wait a bit on the dress. Some styles have limits as to how much they can be altered. It depends on what the bodice is like. When you do look, consider a corset back, and there's a lot more room for adjustment without getting alterations.

    Don't believe the bridal store representatives when they try to get you to order a larger sizes. Bridal stores are notorious for doing that so that they can charge more for alterations.

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  12. Congratulations on your first check-in. Keep it up. Definitely wait on the dress!

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  13. As a former heavy bride here is my tips.

    1. Regardless of how much she drops it helps to know that most likely the stores won't have a sample dress in your size. I was 200 pounds at the time. They clip the open back and you have to imagine what it will look like. David's Bridal is great.

    2. Do the reseach now - how long to order, alter etc. That will give her a better idea of when is her deadline for geting the dress.

    3. Remember wedding dresses are 2 sizes bigger than your actual size. Don't fret the actual number.

    4. Follow the size reccomentdation they give you. alternation will be required but it easier to take in than let out.

    5. As someone said before. Decide on basic shape. strapless, tank strap, a-line, etc. Use friends and family to get suggestion on what style will suit your body best. Even with a 50 pound drop, you body shape, basically remains the same. I will still be a no hip apple shape, even at 130 pounds.

    Hope that helps.

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  14. No clue on the wedding dress thing, I didn't go that route for my very simple wedding. But great job on the loss, Kerensa!

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  15. Wait. Unless she's wanting some designer gown that costs thousands of dollars, wait. The dress won't be nearly so important... it feels like it now but in the grand scheme of things, it just isn't. I've been married twice- the first time I had a classic white gown and it was gorgeous and perfect and fit like it was made for me and was the dress of my dreams and I got it for $99 at David's. For the second wedding, I was going for less formal and more woodsy and casual and had a bridesmaids' gown I was going to wear. Lost some weight, it didn't fit, had to start from scratch. Found a mother of the bride cream gown that was stylish and not the weird suit-y MOB gown you usually see and got it off the rack at David's for around $100.

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  16. I'd be doing lots of looking and deciding on basic style, fabric and so on but definitely not purchasing before 3 months out. As Kerensa shrinks there could also be some mind changes about the kind of dress she wants.

    My mother made my dress and I did some finishing touches. It wasn't a big deal to make your own back then. It's so long ago I've forgotten how excited I was.

    Congratulations on the loss Kerensa and with Jack watching over you you'll be considerably smaller in April even if weight loss slows and steadies down.

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  17. Way to go Karensa! I think the dress question has already been answered, but I agree with the waiting idea :) Keep up the good work!

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  18. you can get a sense of the style, but wait...you could drop a crap load of weight and some things can be altered...but not that much.
    Hang in there and pound the weight loss till april then buy the prettiest dress you can find.
    Good luck!

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  19. go Kerensa!! Very exciting to have a wedding to get ready for :-)

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  20. First, congrats, great succcess!!! Second, wait on the dress, they can order it and get it in two days, don't buy the bullshit that they can't get it for you, it's a lie!!!

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