Just about any celeb's gym selfie gets people talking these days, as Blake Lively's Instagram snap earlier this week proved. But it's her reason for posting — and her ultra-honest caption — that have launched a whole new conversation. The actress had her second daughter with husband Ryan Reynolds back in December of 2016, and she's been sneakily working hard to shed the baby weight with celeb trainer Don Saladino since then.
She revealed her new body — 61-pounds lighter, post-baby — with the caption, "10 months to gain, 14 months to lose. Feeling very proud 💪😁💪." Here's how Saladino helped her make it happen.
Saladino didn't squash Lively's love of food.
If you've spent even 30 seconds on her Instagram, you know Lively's obsessed with cooking and baking. So Saladino didn't bother taking that away from her: "That's not who she is. That's not what she wants people to think she is. She enjoys eating delicious foods just like anyone else," he told E! in an interview. Instead, the trainer tried to get Lively to focus on her energy levels, and how everything she was eating made her feel — and sometimes a slice of cake or a cookie felt good.
She had a template for the perfect meal.
Lively's biggest focus was on protein — a palm-sized portion for every meal — and vegetables, which Saladino says no one eats enough of. Depending on the day, he'd have Lively add in a carb or healthy fat, too.
The actress didn't expect an overnight transformation.
Lively didn't necessarily have a goal weight, just an intention to look and feel more like her pre-baby self. She viewed her work with Saladino as a process, one that ended up taking 14 months. But that's not something that made Lively or Saladino. "Blake doesn't look like she had two kids. She's really proud about it, and she got her body to look [the way] she feels comfortable," Saladino told E!.
She did special mommy moves.
Saladino helped Lively get back into shape after the birth of her first child, too, and both times, he relied on specific warm-ups and exercises that alleviated common stressors for new moms. "If I'm going to put a 20-pound bag on [your] arm, and you're going to walk around [with] that for two hours, yeah, your back is going to feel sore," Saladino said. "The main thing with mothers is to get them in and unwind those asymmetries." He also focused more on slow-state cardio. "Putting a mother under a high-intensity interval training is one of the most irresponsible things that anyone can do," Saladino mentioned.
Saladino had to keep Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds apart during workouts.
He wouldn't admit which half of the couple was in better shape — "I have to bite my tongue on that one" — but Saladino did spill a little on the pair. "I have to separate them in the gym," he said. "They are very cute together."
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