How Rebel Wilson Lost 60 lbs.

(And What We Can Learn From It!)

Actress Rebel Wilson has pulled off a very impressive 60 lb. weight loss transformation. Here’s the cool thing about it. It’s something that us every day AverageJoes (and JoAnnes) can pull off. There wasn’t a hardcore train multiple times/day approach. No gimmicky diets, or crazy detox rituals. Just a great plan combine with some hard work. For me, the most impressive thing about this was her willingness to be honest about herself and where she was, and the fact that while she embraced it, she also took the step necessary to change it. But, most importantly, she (not some shady ass magazine writer/blogger making up stuff) gave us some of the strategies that she used to make it happen.

1. She Found Her Why & Made a S.M.A.R.T. Goal

Rebel was honest about “WHY” she needed to make changes to get healthy. Most people fail to be honest enough with themselves about why they need to do what they want to do. Unfortunately revealing these “Why’s” can be a painful thing. She wanted to have her eggs frozen so she could have a baby at a later date. She felt that  she needed to get healthy in order to make this happen. The other thing that we learned is that she made what is known as a S.M.A.R.T.Goal. S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym that means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Using her goals as an example:

Specific- She wanted to reach her goal weight

Measurable– 165 lbs. goal weight. In her own words “Even though it’s not about a weight number, it’s about being healthy, I needed a tangible measurement to have as a goal and that was 75 kg’s.”

Attainable– We’re not given her goal weight, but it had to be attainable. I assume it was around 225 lbs. She reached her goal with 1 month to spare.

Realistic- She made it happen. Once again with time to spare. In order to attain anything of value, we have to also be willing to give up something. Her goal was a realistic  one because she was willing to make the changes necessary to make that happen.

Timely- She wanted to reach this goal by her 40^th Birthday.

Those that set S.M.A.R.T. Goals tend to accomplish up to 10 times more than those who don’t set S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Let’s add to the fact that she wrote her goals down, along with what behaviors that she had to change to get there. Which research shows that you are between 33-42% more likely to achieve her goals.

2. She Made An HONEST Assessment of Where She Was & How She Got There

One of the most difficult things for people to do as far as fitness is concerned is taking an honest look at ourselves while being truthful about what we see. Rebel knew that she had issues with self-worth, and emotional eating. She had to learn to “treat herself with kindness” after a stressful day instead of using “ice cream and brownies” to deal with that stress. She knew that was eating between 3-4000 calories/day. Rebel took up journaling and meditation to deal with stress instead of using food. She would take 12 minutes out of her day to write down all of her emotions, and she used meditation apps (I like Headspace & Brain.fm) to help her deal with stress. She also knew that she had a strong sweet tooth, and that she wasn’t ready to completely give them up. So she managed them within her 1500/day calorie count.

3. Good Nutritional Practices & Applied Behavior Modification Strategies.

In addition to her strategies to deal with stress, and counting calories Rebel employed a few other smart strategies. We already talked about Rebel being honest with herself about her level of readiness for change. But one of the other things that she mentioned was chewing her food slowly and more thoroughly. This may sound silly to some people but this can be really helpful to someone that’s prone to overeat or emotionally eat while on a reduced calorie diet. Most of the time, we tend to eat really fast and not chew our foods enough. Slowing our eat down not only helps with digestion by breaking foods down more, it also gives time for the brain to receive satiety signals so that it’ll kill your appetite, and stop eating. 

She also ate a high protein/whole food diet. We know that high protein diets help you hold on to muscle while eating in a calorie deficit (on a diet to lose weight), but high protein diets are also great for controlling appetite. People on high protein diets tend to feel full longer. Whole foods also tend to help with satiety due to being higher in fiber. They also have less calories, but more nutrients than processed foods. You can get in the nutrients that you need even though you’re eating less calories. 

4. Rebel HIIT Her Workouts

While admitting to doing large amounts of walking, Rebel also performed HIIT workouts, as well as lifted weights 6 days/week. Here’s her schedule:

• DAY 1: HIIT
• DAY 2: WEIGHTS / RESISTANCE TRAINING
• DAY 3: MOBILITY / RECOVERY
• DAY 4: HIIT
• DAY 5: HIIT / WEIGHTS
• DAY 6: RECOVERY
• DAY 7: HIIT

Most people wanting to lose weight would bury themselves in a bunch of cardio, even though research shows us that HIIT offers faster weight loss, and resistance training allows you to hold on to muscle. Only doing aerobic exercise fails to do this. You lose fat and muscle when you lose weight. Losing both might also contribute to her losing her curves. Which was a big deal to her. She invested most of her time in what brings about the results that she’s looking for. 

All of the above was good for her fitness strategy, but I think her walking served a couple of other purposes. Her walks sounded more like hiking through beautiful areas. I believe this also functions as stress management. On top of that, she would often walk up to an hour each session. When people are on low calorie diets, they often become less active outside of their exercise sessions. They stop doing chores, and tend to become less active. Which reduces their calorie burn. Rebel used walks to keep up what is known as N.E.A.T. which stands for Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. This basically the amount of calories burned doing activities outside of your workouts. If you burn less calories, weight loss becomes more difficult, right?

If you need help creating a well-designed fitness plan that’ll put you on the path to success, feel free to contact us. The key isn’t to copy someone’s else strategy. Is to take what you’ve learned from it to create you own. We can definitely help you with that.