Valerie Bertinelli

People magazine

As Cafe Kristen wrote about a few weeks ago in this very blog, actress Valerie Bertinelli recently lost over 40 pounds on Jenny Craig and posed in a bikini for the cover of People magazine. She's 48. I, too lost weight on Jenny Craig years ago (I was 12), but never had the confidence to wear a bikini...and I still don't. Even though you're a smaller size after losing weight, it doesn't mean the body underneath those clothes are lean and mean. So how did Bertinelli do it?

 

Just two years ago, the actress weighed 172 lbs. at 5'4". After nine months on Jenny Craig, she weighed in at 132 lbs. Bertinelli also became a spokeswoman for the company and blogs about her weight management on JennyCraig.com, which is a good source of inspiration and motivation for the rest of us (it always helps to know that we're not alone). The last time she wore a bikini, Bertinelli was 20. Now in her forties, she has rewritten her own history. Bertinelli told People magazine that to get back into a bikini, she worked out four to five times a week for 60 minutes, with two fitness components. The formula: 

Cardio: Overall, she ran on a treadmill for 30-45 minutes. But some days she broke up the time into 5-minute segments, starting with a 5-minute warm-up run followed by strength exercises, before getting back on the treadmill for another 5 minutes.

Strength training: Bertinelli used resistance bands along with weights to perform a series of alternating combinations of up to 25 triceps dips, 20 push-ups, up to 30 squats, step-ups and over 100 sit-ups total.

She also reduced her caloric intake from 1,700 to 1,200 during the last three weeks, what she called the bikini "homestretch."

The moral of the story is that celebrities lose weight and look great with a good, old-fashioned combination of diet and exercise, or D&E. There are no diet secrets or magic formulas. (And that's why I'm happy it's still cold out, for now).

 

What do you think of Valerie Bertinelli's bikini cover? Would you do it? Are you working on it?