This past week, singer-turned-fashion-designer Jessica Simpson shared a photo to her Instagram page, where she revealed her incredible post-birth 100-pound weight loss. The 39-year-old star, who has two other children, gave birth to daughter Birdie Mae back in March. Throughout her pregnancy, she shared snippets of her journey, which included incredibly bloated feet and broken toilet seats.
However, the mom’s recent post revealed how well she was able to prioritize her fitness after giving birth. She did this by working alongside celebrity trainer and author of The Body Reset Diet, Harley Pasternak.
Harley, who also applauded Simpson’s weight loss with his own post, revealed to Good Morning America that he took a more holistic approach when it came to helping the singer with her weight loss. In fact, he gave the star a list of five things to accomplish every day. Also, for accountability’s sake, he had her email him every night with an update on her progress.
“My work with her is more about the habits she’s created and kept up. Every night before she goes to bed she sends an email showing that she hit all five tasks, so she’ll go to bed feeling successful” he told People Magazine, “The difference between this and the other times was that she worked out, yes, but her transformation was more about what she did on her own time.” He added how he admired the star’s commitment to her health, and fitness, “Being pregnant on and off for a solid seven years can make it difficult to get in great shape and stay in great shape. But after having her third child, Jessica was more focused and dedicated than ever.”
That said, if you’re looking to take a more holistic approach to your health, as well as your weight loss journey, here are five things that you can borrow from Pasternak and Simpson.
Jessica Simpson Shares Her Weight Loss Hacks
1. Get your steps in
Physical fitness is important. So, to slowly ease Simpson into leading a more active lifestyle, Pasternak made sure that she was getting her steps in. He initially began with 6000 steps a day, before increasing it to 8000, 10 000, and eventually 12 000.
“This was a big part of losing the 100 pounds” explained Pasternak, “She could do it by going for walks with her family, walking on the treadmill, watching TV, just moving her body in a non-intense way.”
Aside from the flexibility associated with getting your steps in and taking regular walks, there are a number of other notable benefits. This includes improving your cardiovascular health, strengthening your bones, and even reducing your risk of death by 41%.
There are a number of ways for you to get your steps in throughout your day. This includes taking your dog for a long walk, taking the stairs, and parking further away. You can even take extra trips when emptying your groceries out of the car.
2. Circuit workouts for exercise
In an effort to increase her fitness levels, Pasternak then had Simpson perform circuit workouts every other day,
”We had her doing three to four days a week of resistance exercise, a circuit of a few different body parts per day. We’d pick different body parts for each of the three or four workouts a week.” What’s more, the sessions would typically last 45 minutes as Pasternak would have Simpson repeating each circuit five times.
Circuit training is a particularly good way to exercise. This is because it helps to improve muscle strength and endurance. Moreover, it also improves cardiovascular health and challenges your entire body all while effectively burning calories.
3. Get enough sleep
We cannot stress this enough, but sleep is incredibly important to your health. Interestingly, one of the factors associated with poor sleep is weight gain. Therefore, it’s important to get at least 7 hours of quality, uninterrupted sleep every night,
”Sleep is such an important thing, especially for a mom with three little kids at home and a big business” Pasternak shared,“[Simpson] got at least 7 hours of quality, continuous sleep every night.”
If you’re struggling to get uninterrupted, sleep here are a few simple hacks you can implement to get you better sleep.
4. Spend an hour away from technology every day
For the average person, doing the aforementioned suggestion may lead to some sort of separation anxiety. Hence, exactly why we should do it.
Technology addiction is greatly increasing the risks of suicide and mental health disorders amongst the global population. Additionally, research has found that our addiction to our screens is also increasing our risk of narcissism, an expectation of instant gratification, vision problems, hearing loss, and neck strain (1,2,3).
Moreover, spending too much time on your phone can also affect your sleep quality. This is another reason why Pasternak suggested that Simpson do her best to cut back on her screen time stating that,
“No cellphone, laptop or tablet… That’s really important to control the hormones in our brain that are overwhelmed by the blue light on our phone, by the vibrations and alerts of our technology and the cortisol that’s released.”
If you’re battling with cutting back on your screen addiction, you can take note of the following tips:
- Delete some apps on your phone.
- Make it a rule to have your phone away during meal times.
- Make sure there are no electronic devices (or TV’s) in the bedroom.
- Turn off push notifications.
- Set a timer or install a tracking app that will let you know about your phone usage.
5. Eat a balanced diet
If you’re looking to maintain your health, what you eat will always be an important factor. In regards to her dietary habits, Pasternak advised Simpson to consume three meals a day, including two light snacks between meals. “Meals had protein, fiber, and healthy fat. Snacks have protein and fat or protein and fiber.”
In regards to helping you manage your weight, protein helps to reduce hunger and boost metabolism, fiber increases satiety, as do healthy fats. That said, adding more salmon, vegetables, and legumes, as well as avocados and nuts to your diet, will help to both improve your health and manage your weight.
Additionally, Pasternak also revealed that this form of eating wasn’t strict or depriving Simpson of any indulgences, adding,
“She’ll have foods that are very flavorable that are healthier versions of things like a tortilla soup or Tex-Mex,” he says, “And if she has a birthday party one night and a date night another night, she’s going to indulge both of those nights, but that’s it…It’s about balancing in a way that doesn’t make it painful or too much of a departure from your life before that.”
Conclusion
Jessica Simpson has had such a dramatic weight loss. Could we say that Pasternak has found the secret to weight loss and healthy eating? Well, not exactly.
“There is no magic diet that is the end-all and be it all,” he says. “If you take enough steps per day, you don’t need to starve yourself food-wise, and if you eat properly, you don’t need to run a marathon…It’s by doing moderate amounts of aerobic activity per day, and in this case, we count them as steps, and eating a balanced, moderate diet with a low-sugar lifestyle, that’s essential,”
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