Not ashamed to post this pic but please help

OriginalRandi nailed it. You would need to lose weight and everyone's body loses weight differently. For me when I have lost a significant amount of weight I notice the weight loss first in my arms, boobs and back. My bottom and tummy take longer, or maybe I just carry more of my fat there. I think with slimming down 10 pounds you would see an improvement.

Weights weights weights! Common misconception for ladies is to layer on the cardiovascular for fear weights will bulk them up but that isn't the case. Some light cardiovascular is always great but building those strong muscles is the quickest fat burner around!!!

Hi Carrie! So, first of all, you are DEFINITELY not alone. There are many ways you can approach losing the weight. I will say you can't spot reduce the area, but losing weight overall will help your back too. I am more along the lines of what Jessica is thinking with using weights. I really don't think cardio is an end all be all, and more cardio may not get you what you want. Not saying it won't, everyone's body reacts differently to exercise...

BUT the reason I would advocate you using those machines or any other weighted exercise is this. Lifting weights will help you tone and tighten your muscles. Therefore, even if you still have weight to lose, it is likely you will look tighter defined overall when everything is "pulled in." It takes A LOT for women to bulk up. Even if you weight lifted every day for a year, it is liked that you would not bulk (unless you used steroids. In which case, I can't help you lol). You would gain some muscle for sure, but you likely would not grow bigger. I know men can bulk up when weight lifting, but women generally don't have the amount of testosterone that creates huge muscles. Also, as another note, women don't develop muscle mass as quickly as men do. So, say you were lifting heavy to gain muscle weight in a particular area, you could only gain muscle at roughly half the rate of men (which ends up being around 1 lb of muscle a month). Now, not to keep ranting, but muscle is leaner than fat. Google 5 lbs of muscle compared to 5lbs of fat. The size of 5 lbs of muscle is MUCH smaller than 5lbs of fat.

So, with my rant complete, YES to weight lifting. Usually when you add weight lifting to a regular exercise routine, you really do notice a difference in the way your body looks faster. When the muscles underneath are shaped, it shapes everything else on top of it too. I can't speak to how quickly you will see change, but I know from experience that cardio alone never "showed" a lot of change in a short time. I also am NOT saying to cut out cardio. Cardio is good for your health and your weight loss. Some amount of cardio in combination with a weight lifting routine will give the best results (and eating healthy of course too). Just make sure when you are lifting to start with a weight that is easy enough to get all the way through a set but tough enough that the last couple of reps are difficult to complete (as long as you are able to keep good form throughout). I would suggest doing 10-12 reps per set for 3-4 sets of any exercises you choose. And make sure to give yourself a rest day or two in between body specific exercises (i.e. don't do leg day twice in a row).

Okay, *end massive rant* Good luck girl!

I lied, one last comment. Weight lifting will also help you lose weight, not just define your muscles. When you lift or do interval training, you get what's called the after burn effect. This is where your muscles continue to burn calories after your workout is complete.

Now I'm done!

I have to agree with GrayCatVintage. I think the dress needs to be altered. It's way too tight.

I agree with those who are saying your dress looks too small. Consider adding a corset back instead. That way you're not tucking anything.

Low weights high reps 3x, cardio 3x a week and clean up the diet. Maybe it works wraps the week of if you still have an issue closer to the day.

Weight training. DH and I crossfit 3x a week and we see the same people in class routinely. There is this little woman in her mid-20's, she is most likely around 5'3 ( I am 5'8, most people are little to me) but she is also tiny, like really petite. Yesterday we were doing back squats. She had 200 lbs on her back!!!

Point of my story is, women do not get bulky. That woman most likely wears kids clothes she is so small.

Is there a way the seamstress can let your dress out a bit, or turn it into a corset back? It seems like it's too small. I had some back fat with the sample I tried on, so we ordered the dress one size up.

I had a back fat problem and just finished the 60-day Insanity program. I can't begin to tell you how much better my back looks. I honestly have only lost about 6 lbs, but my body composition has completely changed (far less tummy and I have a butt!). I just started a second round of Insanity, but on nights where my workouts aren't as long, I'm going to alternate doing the extra cardio abs workout and doing some resistance training with my TRX. I have a little less than 30 days to go before the wedding, but I think that should put me right on target.

Having said all that, if you're doing your workouts at a gym, *most* gyms offer a free consultation with a trainer or you can just pay for a 30 min session for the consultation. That way you can explain to a professional what your goals are and he/she will customize a workout plan for you without having to continuously pay to meet your trainer. If you start to plateau, you can just pay for another consultation to shake things up. Good luck!

I loveeee the insanity workouts! Just had to share :-)

We're almost date twins, you have a lot of time! Your dress is too tight, and I disagree with some posters who say it happens to everyone, "even skinny people". Yes it *could* happen to anyone, but only if your dress is too small! I'll just echo what some have written- get your nutrition in check (lots of lean proteins, healthy carbs, low sugar, low artificial-anything, and LOTS of veggies and water!), do some cardio but yes, yes yes, lift! Lifting has giving me so much awesome definition and tone.

And like others have said, you will not bulk up. You must consume a ridiculous amount of extra calories to "bulk". If you keep your nutrition in check, lift challenging weights and add some cardio, you'll be fitting in that dress in no time!

I have a little back fat on my dress and always have since before they altered. They said there's no back fat but im not convinced. I am wearing my hair down and a veil.

ETA: grammer

@onawho - fist bump to the fellow CrossFitter!!

You have a lot of time to alter your dress, I wouldn't do any alterations yet and see how your workout/clean eating goes. Do you have a corset on under the dress? I'm not doing up the top two notches on my corset underneath to avoid the dreaded back fat!

Be careful how you go about it. My dress didn't fit and gave me back fat just like yours. I started doing the 21 day fix, focusing mostly in the back exercises and cardio. I used low weights and all. I ended up gaining muscle somehow on my back, and the dress still didn't fit. I skimmed down everywhere else except they back area I was targeting. We ended up having for zipper lowered. I agree with those saying it needs to be altered. It looks very small.

I agree that you should wait until December/January to get the dress altered, but it does look too tight. Do a combo of weight lifting or body weight workouts, cardio and eat healthier. Changing your diet (high protein, low carb, high fiber, less calories) will help you loose weight. I used myfitnesspal to track what I eat. As others have said you cant spot focus where you loose weight.

Thank you everyone for the posts!! You are all so great and I'm glad I found this community here!! I will keep you all updated when I try it back on in a few weeks!