My son’s wedding is coming up in a little over a month. I am on a mission to drop a few pounds and get in better shape. I want to look good in my dress and be happy with the photographs. Because I’ve always made exercise and diet a regular part of my life, I’m already in good physical condition. I’m also 55 years old and my metabolism has definitely slowed down a bit. Despite working out every day, I’ve put on a few extra pounds in the tummy area. I’ve realized that I need to adjust my diet and workouts accordingly. It hasn’t been easy. I still get up every morning and workout for an hour. I start with a ten-minute warm up and then transition into high intensity aerobics for approximately 30 minutes. I combine jumping rope with burpees, jumping jacks and mountain climbers. Once I’ve worked up a good sweat and elevated my heart rate, I lift weights. Since I’d prefer to tone rather than build bulky muscles, I stick with low weights and high repetition. After that, I go through a variety of abdominal crunches, targeting both lower and upper abs. I add in some lunges and squats and finish with a thorough stretch of all my muscles. I make sure to rotate my hands and feet, flex my toes, rotate my hips and stretch my back. For my meals, I’ve cut back to a banana for breakfast and yogurt for lunch. For dinner, I eat a salad and add in a wide variety of vegetables. I throw in sliced carrots, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, chickpeas, cashews and tomatoes. In the evenings, I either go for a long walk or a twenty minute run. My efforts might seem extreme, but at my age, losing weight isn’t easy.