Jillian Michaels shares two ‘common sense’ tips for keeping fit after summer: ‘Baby steps’

Jillian Michaels shared her two "common sense" tips for how people can maintain their health and fitness during the transition from summer to fall.

"The Biggest Loser" star, 50, who has been a personal trainer for over three decades, told Fox News Digital that she has adopted a more simplified approach to working out and dieting.

"Back in the day, and I mean in the day, probably 15 years ago, if you had a conversation with me about walking and pedometers and just taking the stairs, I probably would have screamed bloody murder at you," Michaels said. "However, we're at a period in time — I've come to appreciate you need to meet people where they're at."

She continued, "There are so many different things working against us environmentally. Food is addictive. All of these different elements that make it harder and harder to do the right thing when it comes to your health, right?"

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Michaels explained that not overeating and making an effort to move throughout the day are two simple steps that people can take to reach their health and fitness goals.

"This is what I recommend. Let's start with baby steps that have a really big impact over time," Michaels explained. "I can make it very simple, but I'm also trying to make it easier. So simple is don't overeat. Use common sense with your food choices, and move your body."

She continued, "And then add sleep and stress management if you can. And if you can do a little more than that — try to be social."

The Daytime Emmy Award nominee explained how people can incorporate her "common-sense" steps into their daily lives.

"If you don't overeat your calories and you use common sense with food choices, like, 'How about a grilled chicken sandwich at McDonald's instead of the Chicken McNuggets? And don't get the soda on the side. Have a water.' These common sense things go a really long way, right? That's what I mean when I say ‘common sense.’ And then, if you move your body more often, everything's going to work out great. It's very simple."

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Michaels warned people against being sedentary during the day, and recommended that they use walking pads to hit their step goals.

"Instead of being on my butt all day long, I can get in my 10,000 steps," she said of using a walking pad. "And this has a massive impact in helping people take off weight, improve all their biomarkers. Would I love HIIT [high-impact interval training]? Yes. Would I love strength training? Yes, but I'll take a walking pad of you crawling along throughout your day to hit a step goal, and it will have a huge impact." 

 "I can make it very simple, but I'm also trying to make it easier. So simple is don't overeat. Use common sense with your food choices, and move your body."

— Jillian Michaels

Michaels continued, "And then start off with something as simple as removing drinks that have calories, remove sodas, remove juices. Take out the really sugary, high-calorie coffee beverages. I would love for you to count calories. I'd love for you to know how many calories are in the foods that you eat. But if you want to make a huge impact, we could probably wipe 250 to 500 calories off of your daily intake just by making that simple change."

"So little things like that in the fall are going to have a massive impact. I'm going to say it one more time. Huge impact. Because the reality is, people want change and they think to get it, they have to move heaven and earth, which isn't true. They become intimidated. They become overwhelmed. It is this simple. And I think those two steps are pretty easy."

While speaking with Fox News Digital, Michaels also shared her thoughts on why people tend to lose motivation to stay healthy and fit during the change of seasons.

"The weather's changing, and then I can't get outside, which is why I said a cheap walking pad," she said. "Because now, you can watch your favorite show while you're walking on your walking pad. You can answer emails, while you're walking on the walking pad, and it can be freezing out, and you could still be walking on the walking pad."

She continued, "Also, less sunlight — it depresses people. It does. There's really good research behind this. We kind of get into a funk sometimes. The days are shorter, they're darker, there's cloud cover, the weather's crappy, it's cold outside. We bundle up. We want comfort food."

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Michaels also noted that people can become demoralized if they deviate from their normal health and fitness routines during the holiday season.

"While you aren't packing on a million pounds over the holidays, what I think happens to people psychologically is, they go to the party, they go to the holiday get-together — and once they fall off that wagon in their mind, they're like, 'Well, it's over, screw it. I'm just going to get to January. I'm just going to let it all ride. In January, I'll make a change.'" Michaels said. 

She continued, "It's kind of like the person that falls off of a diet and says, ‘I blew it.' Beats themselves up — it's like getting a flat tire. They get out of the car, they slash the other three tires. You just give up. Whereas it's totally normal and typical to have higher-calorie days, to incorporate foods that are not ideal." 

"And this is why I hate things like cheat days," the fitness guru added. "If you allow yourself to make 20% of your daily calorie allowance stuff that is obviously not the greatest choice — the slice of cake, the glass of wine — then you're working it in every day." 

"And if you also appreciate it's totally normal to take a high-calorie day, just go to the gym the next day. Like instead of slashing the other three tires, change the flat. But those behaviors that are associated with ‘Oh, I blew it’ all happened in the fall and it kind of begets itself, if you will. It's a snowball effect."

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Michaels' own fitness journey began in childhood. In a 2019 interview with Women's Health magazine, Michaels recalled that she was "on the chubbier side" when she was growing up and hit her heaviest weight of over 170 pounds when she was 13. 

The TV personality's body transformation started when her mother enrolled her in martial arts classes to help her cope with the stress of her parents' divorce. After college, Michaels launched her career as a personal trainer and later opened the Beverly Hills sports medicine facility Sky Sport & Spa with "Work Out" alum Jackie Warner.

Michaels rose to fame in 2005 when she appeared as a fitness coach on the hit reality competition series "The Biggest Loser." She went on to star in her own E! reality TV series "Just Jillian," which premiered in 2016.

Since starring on "The Biggest Loser," the California native has authored nine health and wellness books, released 20 fitness DVDs and launched Jillian Michaels: The Fitness App.

In 2011, Michaels debuted her audio podcast "Keeping It Real with Jillian MIchaels," in which she interviewed wellness experts on the topics of sports, medicine and nutrition.

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Michaels recently formed a partnership with Bill Maher's Club Random to expand "Keeping It Real" to video.

The "Keeping It Real" podcast's new video format "features an impressive lineup of guests and broadens the conversation to tackle the tough topics that matter the most in helping us better understand ourselves and the world around us," according to a press release.

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While speaking with Fox News Digital, Michaels explained how her podcast has evolved since its launch.

"It was audio only, and it originally was all about fitness and nutrition," Michaels said."

She continued, "And then it started to expand in conversation. I would interview different doctors and Ph.D.s."

Michaels recalled that she decided to team up with Maher to produce her video podcast after appearing on his HBO talk show "Real Time With Bill Maher" and later joining him as a guest on his "Club Random with Bill Maher" podcast.

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"We got into a few heated discussions about different topics across the spectrum of wellness, right? Medicine, vaccines, pharma companies, big food lobbyists and all of the things that I have been talking about for years with investigative journalists, Ph.D.s, MDs, behind the scenes," she said. 

Michaels continued, "And Bill basically said, 'Why is nobody else saying this? And the reality is that there is a certain amount of medical McCarthyism going on. You get the pharma cartels that come down on these doctors like nobody's business, and some of it's being censored on social and all different reasons that the truth is having a difficult time coming to light these days, or you weren't even allowed to have a thoughtful conversation to explore it, right? Even if you're wrong, you can't even explore the dialogue, or your hypothesis is wrong."

Following their conversations, Michaels explained that Maher approached her about producing a video format for "Keeping It Real."

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"Bill, being a seeker of truth himself and very anti-cancel culture, essentially said, ‘I want to weaponize you so that you can have these conversations with the people you think are the most credentialed and the most capable of having them in a way where you are cancel-proof,’" she recalled. 

"And that's how my partnership with Bill came about," Michaels said. "So it's been a journey, if you will."

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