Brideorexia: Extreme Wedding Weight Loss

Experts are worried about a recent trend in dieting, dubbed "brideorexia." As implied by the name, the behavior involves crash dieting to lose weight before getting married. Taken to the extreme, unhealthy wedding weight loss can lead to some serious health consequences, including the development of a full-blown eating disorder.

Brides have long been concerned with wedding weight loss. Many have held fantasies about the perfect wedding day since they were young children. As the wedding day approaches, these brides-to-be worry about looking good in their wedding dresses and begin engaging in unhealthy behaviors. This may include food restriction, binging and purging, use of laxatives, excessive exercising or a combination of these behaviors.

While unhealthy wedding weight loss methods may seem innocent enough to the bride, they can easily spiral out of control. In an interview with Time, eating disorder specialist Dr. Ira M. Sacker said that ten percent of women participating in risky wedding weight loss programs later develop lasting eating disorders. Sacker acknowledges that some level of wedding weight loss is natural and can even be healthy. "There's nothing wrong with losing weight. Brides are going to do that... But if it's an extreme issue, if we're using restriction, diuretics, stimulants and other risk-taking behavior, they should know there are rebound effects."

Brideorexia recently garnered public attention in the days leading up to the royal wedding. In the months between Kate Middleton's engagement and her wedding day, she lost a surprising amount of weight. Whether or not this is the result of an eating disorder is something which we can only speculate on. Either way, Middleton is just one face on a disturbing trend.

Perhaps the saddest part of the extreme wedding weight loss fad is how heavily it is being pushed in the commercial world. Bridal boot camp is an especially booming industry, popping up in gyms and fitness programs. The bridal boot camp phenomenon even has its own TV show on VH1 . On this show, future brides are put on a strict diet and exercise regimen, competing for an expensive wedding dress, honeymoon vacation or other wedding related prizes. Several of these brides appear to be already at a healthy weight when the show begins, only to look excessively thin by the finale.

While losing weight can be a healthy endeavor, losing weight solely for the purpose of looking good on your wedding day is unrealistic and unhealthy. Bridal crash dieting, or brideorexia, can lead to some serious health risks, including the development of a DSM classified eating disorder.