Fitness Expert Jillian Michaels Shares Weight Loss Secrets With ‘The Inquisitr’ [Exclusive]

Health and fitness expert Jillian Michaels, creator of the My Fitness by Jillian Michaels app, is America’s favorite trainer and weight loss guru. As summer approaches, Michaels shared her timeless weight-loss secrets with the Inquisitr in an exclusive interview.

Jillian looks sensational at age 44 with her rippling abs and toned arms. Judging by her sleek, age-defying physique, it may surprise you to know that the 5-foot-3 Michaels once tipped the scales at 175 pounds.

Jillian has maintained her 50-pound weight loss for years by following the same rules that helped her lose the weight in the first place. And it’s not about trendy diets or banning certain macronutrients from your eating plan, she said. It’s common sense and time-tested principles.

Here are Michaels’ four top weight-loss secrets. They’re not trendy, but they work. “I hate to admit that the best tips are the most obvious,” Jillian told the Inquisitr.

Tip 1: Count Calories

While good old calorie-counting has given way to trendy diets that promise weight loss without counting calories, Michaels said losing weight is simply a matter of mathematics: If you consume fewer calories than you expend, you will shed the pounds.

“Ultimately, excess fat is simply stored energy,” she said. “To burn that off, you have to eat less food and move more.”

Tip 2: Embrace HIIT Training and Resistance Training

Obviously, any exercise is better than none, but Michaels said the two most effective workout techniques for maximum calorie-burning are resistance training and HIIT, or high-intensity interval training.

“Personally, I like to combine these two techniques into something called metabolic circuit-training,” Jillian said. “You simply work an HIIT interval into your resistance circuit to keep your heart rate up and condition muscles simultaneously.”

Tip 3: Get 7 To 8 Hours Of Sleep

Research shows that when people are sleep-deprived, they tend to overeat and crave unhealthy foods. Getting enough sleep promotes weight loss because it keeps your hormone levels functioning properly.

“Sleep plays such a huge role in so many of our body processes, from immunity and anti-aging to metabolism,” Michaels explained. “When we don’t sleep, we release more of the hormones that store fat (cortisol) and less of the hormones that burn it (HGH). Plus, it increases our appetite.”

Michaels is a walking testament that getting enough sleep is anti-aging. The mom of two has barely aged in the past 10 years.

Tip 4: Try Intermitting Fasting

Digestion is pro-inflammatory, according to the medical journal Critical Care. Inflammation fuels weight gain, aging, and many diseases, including diabetes and cancer. The American habit of eating around the clock is partly responsible for our exploding epidemic of obesity and chronic disease.

By giving your digestive tract a daily break for 12 hours or more, you drastically cut down on the inflammation caused by constant digestion.

“Create a 12-to-16-hour fasting period between your last meal and breakfast,” Michaels suggested. “Personally, I do 14 hours. Sixteen is too hard and I get overly hungry.”

It’s easier than you might think. For example, if you eat dinner at 7 p.m., then just hold off eating breakfast the next day until 7 a.m. (for a 12-hour fasting window) or 9 a.m. (for a 14-hour window).

Not only will your body function more smoothly, but it’ll help you lose weight, cut down on inflammation, and you’ll enjoy your first meal of the day that much more.

“This gives your body the energy, time, and inclination to do housekeeping – for your immune system to function, your cells to divide, etc.,” Michaels explained. “But it also tells the body’s key nutrient-sensing pathways that energy in the form of carbs and fat are not present and requires us to dig into our stored energy and damaged cells to function.”

Jillian is the creator of the app My Fitness by Jillian Michaels and the prenatal health program Yeah Baby!, which helps women stay healthy through each stage of their pregnancy.