I bought my wedding dress back in December and it fit perfectly. I have been away for 4 months for a ski season and have come home to find my dress is too small around my rib cage and won't do up. Their is nothing the tailor can do, so basically I need to lose it or I won't have a dress to wear. Therefore I need to to lose 2 inches around my rib cage in 5 weeks! 

My other half has suggested low intensity exercise for long ish periods of time, which I agree is a good plan. I'm currently doing about 1-1.5 hours a day, which is consisting of 50% step-ups and 50% rowing. 

I'm worried that rowing may have the opposite effect, in that I'm concerned that it's not fat around my ribs which is the problem but muscle gain from 4 months skiing and now rowing 4 times a week. My other half completely disagrees as he says it's not possible for women to gain muscle mass due to our hormones, so he thinks rowing is fine. Note that he has trained as a personal trainer, although does not work in this field.

**I have put on some weight whilst away (1.5kg) and some of that is fat. However 
I'm struggling to see how I can have gained 2 inches around my rib cage (which does not seem fat at all) when I have gained so little weight?** 

Any advice would be very gratefully received! 

**Should I stick to rowing or would I be better off with exercises which don't involve using my back muscles?**