Losing Weight For the Wedding...With a Feeding Tube?!

There's something about engaged brides to be and weight loss schemes, but this takes the whole -four tiered-buttercream covered cake. While the idea of looking your best for one of the biggest events of your life is understandable, harming your body and mind in the process is simply unacceptable. What am I talking about? Brides are using feeding tubes to lose weight.  Feeding tubes and a tube feeding diet. We use these in hospitals out of necessity to keep people alive when they have a medical condition where they can't eat 'normally'. Nurses insert tubing through the mouth or nose of the patient and thread it into the digestive system. As a dietitian, our goal is to get that person back to normal eating as soon as possible. While the tube feeding that a patient is administered is formulated to be close to what a person on a regular healthy diet would eat...it's simply not the same on a nutrition basis. We know whole foods are healthier for us. There is nothing glamorous about the process. And someone is choosing this procedure for quick fix weight loss.

But the use of feeding tubes for losing weight is truly just one of the many schemes for bridal beauty. The New York Times article also mentions HCG, detoxes, and juice cleanses as some of the weight loss favorites.

"A 2007 Cornell University study ...found that 70 percent of 272 engaged women said they wanted to lose weight, typically 20 pounds." states the NY Times piece.

I get it. As a newlywed who looks at her wedding photos all the time, I know you want to see the matrimonial evidence and love every minute. So to those women wanting to look and feel healthier, I say, you go girl. But I'm also saying: Do it the right way. Do it the healthy way. And your new weight loss and healthy habits will last past the honeymoon. 

'Bridal Hunger Games' states the cost of this tube feeding diet cost the bride $1,500 for ten days. Here's what you could do with that money instead. Learn to make the habits and results last. Schedule a series of sessions with a dietitian who will help you figure out a meal plan, analyze your daily intake and compare it to your ideal nutrition day, and help you problem solve your diet using hard science and proven facts. The results of that will last far into the Mrs. phase. That's definitely not a hit or 'Miss' diet fix.

Even the NYT piece author sites this solution. There are no magic bullets for wedding weight loss. Like I've said before it's 100% about planning and taking action. Give yourself time and the moment he pops the question, make your goals. One of the more unfortunate reprocussions of the article release is the inevitable idea generation. There will be brides who read the article and want the fast fix.

For better or worse, 

-Carlene

(Tip of the veil to @ShelRael and @MichelleDudash for tweeting this article).

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Note:  Don't know what's feasible? This is a wedding weightloss calculation I made based on a healthy 1-2 pounds per week weight loss:

Step 1: Length of time until wedding-(6 to 9 months for gown ordering)= months for weight loss

Step 2: Months for wt loss x (4 or 8 pounds) =total feasible wt loss

• Example: 14 months until wedding- 9 months gown order= 5 months of weight loss
• 5 months x 4 to 8 pounds per month=  20-40 pounds Total feasible weight loss