14 DAY TRIAL // She’s approaching 48 and she hasn’t posed for a magazine in a swimsuit since she was 20 years old. Yet, Valerie Bertinelli has risen to the challenge, and has managed to drop 40 pounds and finely tone her muscles, just in time to make the cover of People magazine, and only a few weeks before her big birthday.
Bertinelli has been a spokesperson for the Jenny Craig diet ever since 2007 and, understandably, she’s also on it, as she tells People. She stuck to the diet for an entire year and, when she saw that she managed to lose some weight and keep it off, she decided to go for something more drastic and hired a personal trainer to help her build muscle mass.
Nine months later, she’s on the cover of the magazine, wearing nothing but a green swimsuit and showing off a body that 20-year-olds would kill to have, not to mention women nearing their 50s.
“Bertinelli’s 60-minute bikini workout routine, done four to five times a week, included two fitness components.” People magazine writes, adding that the workout has been comprised of cardio and strength training. The idea was not to be muscular or too skinny, but to regain confidence and look good on the beach again, a thing the actress had not been able to do for the past two years or so, as per her own admission. In the end, all the efforts were worth it, as the latest issue of People magazine clearly shows.
“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.” the mag further informs.
Bertinelli rose to fame with the long-running TV series “One Day at a Time.” In recent years, though, she has been plagued by stories regarding her weight, with some publications even going as far as comparing her to chronic dieter and also Jenny Craig spokesperson Kirstie Alley, whose yo-yoing weight has often made the subject of many tabloid stories.