Valerie Bertinelli since she first appeared as a fresh faced tween in 1975 on the then hit television show “One Day at a Time.” Through the years, her weight has seen its share of ups and downs, always making her seem like a “regular” person to so many of us.

Recently though, she went public with her struggle and her need to lose forty plus pounds. In what seemed like an extremely short time, Valerie was back in the spotlight looking trimmer and happier than ever before. Many of my clients and women I talked to wanted to know how she became bikini ready this summer, so I did a little research and will share some of her secrets with you today.

Valerie’s first step in controlling her weight and regaining back her life so she could slip into that bikini, was to become a spokesperson for the popular Jenny Craig Weight Loss Center. As you may know Jenny Craig promotes a healthy relationship with food, an active lifestyle and a balanced approach to living.

She also incorporated these three principles along with the Jenny Craig pre packaged food and meeting with her assigned Jenny Craig counselor on weekly basis for support and guidance. This allowed Valerie to be well on her way to a healthy lifestyle. Being “just a mom” as Valerie puts it, she had no personal chef, and no personal trainer so she knew she needed to make some big changes in her life…FAST.

An interesting little fact about Valerie’s progress is that Jenny Craig offered to send a consultant to her home, but she enjoyed being just like all the other members and attend her weekly session in the center. By incorporating all the above factors, she was able to see her weight go down quickly and consistently.

Since we now know what Valerie did for an eating regime, what about exercise?

Valerie has since heard to report that she is not a big lover of having to exercise.  Again adding to her proven persona as a “regular” person, she prefers to exercise mainly through walking. She made it a point to log in over 10,000 steps on a pedometer on a consistent basis.

In addition to the walking, Valerie’s “back to bikini” workout also included two basic fitness components, cardio, and strength training. She utilized both a treadmill and resistance bands to give her an overall full body workout.

Sticking to her eating and exercise plans coupled with her support from Jenny Craig and those that loved and cared about her, she was determined to be successful.

Valerie wanted to prove to all her fans and supporters that she was just a regular girl trying to control her weight. Not only did she accomplish this task with ease just by being down to earth and open about her struggle, she motivated many others to do the same. Thanks to her not only is she able to fit into a bikini this summer and look great, but so many others are able to do exactly the same thing.

Questions? Comments? Thoughts? leave ‘em below.