14 DAY TRIAL // “My Name Is Earl” star Jaime Pressly has always been in top shape, as a simple Google search with her name only should reveal to anyone for whom her name does not ring a bell. When she learned she was pregnant, she realized she literally had an open door to all the food she wanted, so she ate her way to 42 pounds of extra weight, weight that she had to shift after she gave birth, as she reveals for Health.
Speaking with the magazine, the actress admits that losing the weight was neither as fun nor as easy as it had been to gain it; yet she was determined to get her pre-pregnancy body back and she spared no effort to achieve her goal. She even tried the much criticized cabbage soup diet and, from what she says, it actually works wonders, especially if combined with a rigorous workout routine.
“[I lost the weight in] three months. But I lost the first 32 pounds by my 30th birthday, which we celebrated in Vegas. We had pool parties, and I was not about to be chunky. I did the cabbage soup diet twice in a row. It lasts six days, and you eat cabbage soup three to four times a day. But one day, you can also eat up to eight bananas. [Which] I did, because I was breast-feeding and hungry. On the third day, you’re so excited because you get half a baked potato. You can have any size potato, so I was at the store trying to find the jumbo ones. I was like, Where are the ones that they genetically made ginormous? I was also working out two hours a day – you have to work out,” Pressly says for the magazine.
In the same interview, the actress also reveals her secret to maintaining her weight now that she got it where she wanted it is in eating less red meat. However, she too cheats on occasion and indulges in junk food when she craves it – plus, she knows she can work it off later in the gym. Speaking of which, Pressly points out that she could never do a workout as “Zen” as yoga, because she’s more of an active person and needs to keep constantly moving.
“I get bored easily, so my trainer, Mike Jones, introduced me to the [suspension training system] TRX. It’s two handles you can attach to a bar or a doorway. You use your body weight for resistance. We also do abs, plus 150 to 200 squats. We work the inner and outer thighs, the quads, the hamstrings. I enjoy feeling the burn and pushing myself. I am not a yoga person. They say it would be good for me because I’m a Type A person, and it would relax me, but I like action. Yoga’s too Zen for me!” Jaime explains.