10 Best Diets For Brides To Be

Congratulations, you're engaged!  While you've been busy choosing a venue, flowers, and the perfect menu, we've been consulting with a registered, licensed dietician to construct an easy-to-follow, manageable eating plan to prepare you for your big day. We're not talking about months filled with crudité and juice cleanses. Instead, we've compiled a list of some of the most realistic, flexible diet plans so you can have your cake, and eat it too.

Click here for 10 Best Diets for Brides to Be (Slideshow)

Registered dietician Christina Moreno recommends making small changes slowly, with a big picture in mind.

"It generally takes 30 days to make or break a habit, so make small attainable goals to work toward," she says. "Drink more water, make sure to eat breakfast and eat every two-to-four hours."

Moreno is a believer in balanced diets (eating the rainbow) and making your day "top heavy" — where breakfast is the largest meal of the day.  However, sacrifice isn't the name of the game.

"Allow yourself your favorite foods, and foods that satisfy you!" she mentions.

Whether you're getting married in six months or two years, Moreno recommends the same, easy-to-follow healthy tips mentioned previously, including: sufficient sleep, drinking more water, eating breakfast, and consuming a balanced diet (lose the processed foods!).

"...Guidelines suggest that carbohydrates and proteins be equivalent to the size of your palm. Fruits and vegetables supplement your diet, and should be used as filler, to ensure you're never hungry! This may look like three meals and three snacks per day!" she recommends.

However, as the day gets closer (night before the wedding, day of), she recommends sticking to a low-fat, low-sodium meal plan – especially if you have a nervous stomach.

Moreno's final piece of advice?

"Diets should be supervised by a registered dietician — not just a nutritionist, as they do not hold the same training and educational background, to assure effectiveness and prevent a 'diet gone wrong.'"

Although Moreno encourages following a balanced meal plan for flexibility and enjoyment, she feels comfortable acknowledging key components of modern, critic-acclaimed diets including DASH Diet, Weight Watchers, and The Mediterranean Diet, which all focus on heart-healthy changes, kicking sodium to the curb, and an emphasis on plant-based foods and healthy fats. She notes that Weight Watchers may "be the most realistic in the way that it allows you to make your own food choices and incorporate variety."

Check out our slideshow for a compilation of the top 10 Diet Plans for Brides-To-Be, helping you lose those few extra pounds and stay in tip-top shape for your big day! Because, let's face it, you've got enough to worry about — researching diets shouldn't be another thing to add to the "to-do" list.