Lisa vs. the dreaded bridesmaid dress

Sometimes things can seem very daunting.

I am in a wedding on June 21st. Yup. A good friend called and asked me to be a bridesmaid for her upcoming wedding, and since the lovely couple are going to have to rush the wedding a bit (he's got a job and they have to make a big move for it, plus they've been dating since our freshman year of high school, so I think we won't miss much on the planning, haha), so it's June 21st.

And the dress we shall wear? Strapless.

The fear of God is now coming down upon me. Do you know how much effort and coaxing it took me to wear a one piece bathing suit this past summer? And I still kept most of myself covered in the damn thing. I've never worn a strapless outfit of any kind. I am fat. I have fat arms. No one needs to see them. Oh god, I'm about to hyperventilate...

so yeah, that has been the thought process the past few hours since I got the e-mail with the "what do you think about these dresses?" link in it. I think I'm gonna look like a whale next to the size 2 and size 8 or 10 bridesmaid. Blimpy McGee, here I come down the isle, waddle waddle waddle.

As strong as I've become since I started running, as much as I've changed and realized that I am a beautiful women despite my size and that I am amazing, these negative horrible thoughts still pop in my head from time to time. Hey, I know, nobody is perfect, but I've just had a long history of dealing with body image, so it's a pretty big hurdle I've been jumping over (and I'm getting there!) the last almost year since I started this crazy journey.

So, enough bellyaching. It's just a dress. And I WAS fat, I'm just working on it at this point. Hell, I'm currently typing this while wearing jeans that are four years old and until now haven't worn in years. I have all the way until June 21st to make myself even more snazzy. The day isn't about me, and no one should or will care what I look like, but I still want to look my best for my friends, because they will cherish these photos and wedding video forever. I want to look nice for them, and a bit for my sanity too.

SO FOLKS... Who here has some killer techniques to work on my upper arms? What's the best type of exercise to gets these puppies looking better? Any suggestions?

If this doesn't keep me getting up and running in the morning, I don't know what will. I think the marathon is less scary to me then a bridesmaid dress, because in running we are expected to look ridiculous in our outfit, and who cares at that point, we are amazing athletes. But I'll be damned if a bridesmaid dress is going to beat me down.