Jillian Michaels’ New Weight Loss Plan! (Healthy Hollywood)

Fitness guru Jillian Michaels knows a thing or two about whipping folks into shape. After all, she’s helped shed hundreds of pounds off of “The Biggest Loser” contestants.
And, she’s become America’s queen of fitness with her empire of workout DVD’s and weight loss gadgets.

Now, Jillian adds another chapter to her workout world. She’s teamed up with the popular women’s fitness center, Curves, to create a 30-minute full body workout circuit.

“My thing is 30-minute workouts. That’s our goal to provide women with the tools to make the changes they want in their lives,” Jillian reveals to Healthy Hollywood.

I got a chance to try out the Curves circuit training the other day in New York City. The workout was set up in a circle and you alternated between strength machines and metabolic conditioning exercises, which are exercises like jumping jacks, squats or high knee lifts. You do each bit for 30 seconds and then move on to the next station without a break. The idea is to get your heart rate up, never stop moving and keep on going for 30 minutes. While, I didn’t think it was going to be tough, I ended up working up a sweat and calling this session my workout for the day. Let’s just say it’s a lot tougher than it looks.

And, the best news is that you tone up fast and lose weight from this program.

“It provides you the opportunity to fit in as many fitness modalities as possible because you aren’t resting. There is no downtime,” Jillian adds, who also says this workout is as effective as major gym outings, “First off the heart rate is up entire time. Second of all, we are strengthening and conditioning cardiovascularly at the same time, which has been shown scientifically to provide the best results. Plus, the way we worked out will amp up your calories for hours to come.”

If you really want to super-charge your weight loss, Jillian says you have to count calories. Forget, all those fad diets!

“First you’re a vegan. Then, you’re into the Paleo diet. Now, you don’t eat wheat. It’s ridiculous! At the end of the day, it is common sense, don’t eat chemicals, eat real foods and don’t eat more food than you burn in a day. I have taken 100s of pounds off of people at an extremely accelerated rate practicing that philosophy of counting calories,” she adds.

A consistent fitness program is also important.

“You need to find something you love and do it. If you truly hate it, you aren’t going to do it,” Jillian explains. “Over the course of your everyday life think about how you can add in a more active lifestyle. Instead of going to the bars, my friends and I will go to a batting cage or go bowling or head to the driving range. It’s not really a workout but it’s the difference between drinking 300 calories and burning calories, and that’s a lot better than sitting at a bar.”

Curves Workouts with Jillian Michaels is available at Curves club nationwide. To find a location, check out www.curves.com.

— Terri MacLeod