Blake Lively Talks Post-Baby Weight Loss: No Gluten, No Soy Diet Plus Fitness Equals Success
Blake Lively is serving up all the secrets to her post-baby weight loss success. Explaining that she worked hard to get that bikini body she flaunted in The Shallows, Lively credits her weight loss to cutting out all processed foods with an emphasis on gluten and soy, as well as exercising, reported Us Weekly.
Currently pregnant with baby number two, Blake clarified that she went on her weight loss plan following the birth of her first child, James. It took only eight months after her daughter came into the world to shed the pounds.
“I did no gluten and no soy.”
After she had cut soy out of her diet, Lively says she had a revelation. Eliminating soy also meant eliminating all processed foods.
“Once you remove soy, you realize you’re eating no processed foods,” pointed out the actress. “So that’s basically what I did. No processed foods and then working out.”
“[It] seems like, ‘Oh, that’s really easy to cut that out,’ but then you realize, there’s soy in everything,” she noted. “Like, everything you eat, there is soy in it. Even if it’s healthy, Whole Foods organic stuff, there’s always soy in it.”
Lively issued a challenge to those who want to try to follow her diet. “Just try no soy and no gluten and watch how hard that is.”
But Blake doesn’t believe in deprivation, revealing that she focused on balancing her diet with protein, carbohydrates, and plenty of vegetables.
“You just have a balance of protein, carbs and vegetables. It wasn’t the worst. Like, I was eating rice and sushi,” she added.
“That was the hardest part,” confessed Blake. “They were making these fresh muffins every morning — those jackas*es. They smelled so good!”
Throughout her post-baby bikini body diet, Lively focused on moderation.
“I was still able to have sugar and all of those things. It’s all in moderation,” she emphasized.
When it comes to getting guidance on her workouts, credit goes to Blake’s celebrity personal trainer, Don Saladino. It took him just two months to work with Lively to sculpt the perfect bikini beach body. Don revealed that a nutritionist helped to complement those workouts with four mini meals daily.
Because Blake was exercising almost every day, it was particularly important to ensure that her meals were balanced with the right type of carbohydrates, as well as protein and vegetables, pointed out Saladino.
“We made sure that her meals were well-balanced,” explained the personal trainer. “She had a protein, a vegetable and a slow-burning carb.”
To incorporate the gluten-free element of Lively’s diet, the “slow-burning carb” typically consisted of a sweet potato, a serving of white rice, or gluten-free oatmeal. Don emphasized that Blake’s plan was designed to keep her healthy.
“This is not training a fitness competitor or a model,” noted Saladino. “This is about feeding a woman who’s got a child who’s got to have certain nutrients in her body. She’s got to take care of herself. She’s got to eat healthy. The way that we did it was the right way, and it wasn’t through starving her.”
Lively shared that she never felt embarrassed by her figure, accepting the results of having a baby.
“After I had a kid I thought, ‘Okay, this is what my body looks like. This is amazing – I earned this body,’ ” she said proudly.
However, once Blake saw the results of her diet and fitness plan, she took equal pride in her sleek physique.
“I’ve never been in that great a shape in my whole life.”
Lively feels that achieving her weight loss and sculpted body after having a baby is a special accomplishment.
“So to do it after having a kid was actually really nice,” admitted Blake. “Because you see your body after having a kid and it’s beautiful because you just gave birth, but it’s also ‘Oh my god, this is not what my body looks like.’ You feel like you’re never going to get your body back again.”
[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]
