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The Wedding Body Plan: Navigating The Hen Do

PT Scott Laidler on how to survive your hen do without ruining your diet - or your fun

You've been working hard at getting your body in condition for the wedding, so the last thing you really need is a night - or a weekend - of debauchery is the last thing you need.

But the hen party will come round and there's no need to panic for we have some tips from expert personal trainer Scott Laidler on how to make sure it doesn't totally derail you - but you still have a great time.

Yay! Hen party! (Videojug)
Yay! Hen party! (Videojug)

Scott's Survival Tips:

Sometimes there will be pre-planned engagements, such as your hen party, where you know you’ll be expected to drink and party. It's unavoidable but that’s life and what you can do is learn to work around them, then eventually, it will become habitual and you won’t even consider them a problem.

Here are some strategies to help you to minimize the damage to both your health and your waistline.

1) Don't train too hard the day before or after a big blowout
If you keep up your rigorous training program and still go to the party, the chances are the poor nutrition, alcohol and lack of sleep will combine forces to make it very difficult to recover from your training. This could push you into fatigue and overtraining and keep your hormone levels on the floor, the last thing anyone needs before their wedding day.

Instead, it will be more beneficial to go for a fast walk, do a light bodyweight circuit or a gentle bike ride. This would qualify more as activity than exercise and would help with the overall calorie burn for the day but won't leave you vulnerable even if you have a mad night.

Eat your protein early(REX)
Eat your protein early(REX)



2) Get your protein in early
Often party food contains mainly carbohydrates and won't be nutritionally balanced enough for your healthy plan. You can combat this by consuming your necessary protein early, and keeping your fat and carb intake low during the day.

This way, you can eat a few cheat foods in the evening without worrying about their poor nutritional content.

3) Intermittent fasting
This is a great way to burn fat and retain a youthful, healthy body in general. It involves fasting for a period of time and then consuming all of your daily calories during a feasting period. Applied to the hen night scenario, waiting until the afternoon before you have your first meal of the day will protect you somewhat regarding weight gain and allow you to eat what you want in the evening.

4) Stick to spirits and dry wines
They are less calorific than other drinks and will not contribute to fat gain anywhere near as rapidly. You should also make sure that you remain well hydrated with water in between alcoholic drinks.

Not only will this limit the amount of calories consumed with alcohol but it will leave you feeling fuller for longer, meaning that even though you’ll still be eating cheat foods, you’ll be eating less of them subconsciously.

You can also avoid a TOWIE-style hen do! (REX)
You can also avoid a TOWIE-style hen do! (REX)



5) Don't drink during dinner
Alcohol inhibits your ability to make good choices. I think we've all experienced that at some point! When it comes to drinking over dinner getting drunk too early could mean you make terrible food choices, so wait until you hit the bars and clubs before getting too far gone.

And for one-to-one online training with Scott visit www.scottlaidler.com or find him on Twitter @Scott_Laidler.

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