Jessica Simpson Shows Off Stunning 100lb Weight Loss

Nov 13, 2020

Being in the limelight since the age of 17, Jessica Simpson has often spoken about the pressures she has faced regarding her body image and growing up in the public eye as she navigated a music career. After putting on a lot of weight with her three pregnancies, public scrutiny surrounding her body image only became worse. The singer has since embarked on a holistic health journey that saw her adopt healthy habits, which led her to lose over 100 pounds in just one year. To celebrate the pop star's impressive feat, we're taking a closer look at just how she did it.

The 40-year-old singer is mom to three children: 8-year-old Maxwell Drew Johnson, 6-year-old Ace Knute Johnson and her youngest, 1-year-old Birdie Mae Johnson. 

During her first pregnancy, Simpson became the subject of hot discussion in the tabloids after gaining a considerable amount of weight. A first-time mom-to-be at the time, the "Dukes of Hazzard" told USA Today that her pregnancy gave her a "big appetite," which made her feel "constantly hungry," leading to a 70-pound weight gain in just nine months. Needless to say, Simpson expressed that "being pregnant for two years took a toll."

"With Maxwell, I vegged out and laid around," Simpson admitted. "I knew I didn't have to watch what I was eating for the first time in my life. I kind of let loose, and I gained a lot."

After giving birth on May 1, 2012, the pop star signed a $4 million contract to become a spokesperson for Weight Watchers and kicked off her weight loss journey to return to a healthier state. According to Women's Health, Simpson had lost 60 pounds by November, thanks to a strict regimen consisting of regular exercise and a balanced, healthy meal plan, courtesy of her personal chef. In the meantime, Simpson became pregnant with her second child, Ace.

Speaking to USA Today, the singer said she tried to be more mindful of her weight the second time around, which was easier since she was already leading a "healthy lifestyle" by then. In the end, she gained "what a normal pregnant woman would gain." I did put on a good amount with Ace," she added.

As a mother, Simpson told USA Today how exercise actually helped her, even though her life was busy with the kids. She said,

"With both kids, I'm running up and down my stairs a million times. Kids can keep your metabolism going. Eric and I go on walks together. I try and walk about 4 miles a day consistently. It makes me feel better."

Simpson went on to explain how exercising was also beneficial to her mental health. Simpson said that physical activity helps her "with all the hormones I have to deal with. Working out and being active overall makes me a happier person to be around. I let out so much more anxiety if I go out and walk and talk to Eric, who is basically my therapist on our walks."

In an Instagram post from May 2020, Jessica Simpson again mentioned the correlation between physical and mental health. As a mother, it's important for her to have me-time, and she does that by exercising before any of her kids even wake up in the morning. Her caption read,

"Woke up before all 3 kiddos to get my steps in and spend time with me, myself, and I. Move move move for your own mental health. "

Simpson continued her training sessions and went for long walks with her husband, Eric Johnson, 41.

"I tried to get 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day. I wasn't trying to lose weight," she said. 

With two back-to-back pregnancies and giving birth twice in the span of a bit of a year, the actress claimed she and her husband were done with having children. "I have two beautiful children and I'm not having a third," Simpson told Ellen Degeneres in 2017. "They're too cute, you really can't top that!" the doting mom added.

So when the singer revealed she was pregnant with her third child that following year, fans were naturally surprised.

The pregnancy had been a rocky ride for Simpson, as she experienced health complications, which saw the singer being hospitalized four times in just two months with bronchitis. Upon returning home from her last time in the hospital, the star took to Instagram to update her fans on how she and her baby were doing. 

"Coughing with Birdie has been a crazy painful journey. I am slowly getting healthier every day," she wrote. "Baby girl was monitored and is doing amazing!"

Simpson gave birth to a daughter, Birdie Mae, in 2019, and almost immediately enlisted her longtime fitness coach, Harley Pasternak, to help get herself back on track. Speaking to People in Sept. 2019, her trainer revealed Simpson had been tipping the scales at 240 pounds, which would make her weight loss journey even more challenging. 

"This is sort of the aggregate of being pregnant nonstop for a decade, and so we had a little more of a challenge between this and the other ones," Pasternak explained.

Pasternak, who works with his co-trainer Sydney Liebes, explained they didn't even need to have some time out after the birth but were able to start making positive changes immediately. This was because the regime didn't involve heading straight back to the gym but practicing small healthy habits along the way.

Taking a more holistic approach, the trainer instructed Simpson to incorporate five tasks into her day: achieving her step count, detoxing from technology for an hour, getting enough sleep, eating a healthy and balanced diet and finally, exercising. The first task, walking, was an enjoyable one for the singer as, according to Pasternak, "it's a social thing that she can do with her kids." As a first challenge, Simpson set a goal of completing 6,000 steps per day for the first few weeks, gradually increasing 12,000 over the upcoming weeks.

"The difference between this and the other times was that she worked out, yes, but her transformation was more about what she did on her own time. She was so motivated and positive," Pasternak explained.

"She was saying that her body has not belonged to her for the past decade. Not in a bad way, in a positive way — her body has been designated to create life and now it's hers again and she's going to make it fantastic in a really enjoyable way."

The science supports Pasternak and Simpson's walking-oriented weight loss approach.

“There are many reasons to walk for exercise,” said Ann Green, a world athlete, yoga teacher and fitness studio owner in an interview with NBC News. “Walking improves fitness, cardiac health, alleviates depression and fatigue, improves mood, creates less stress on joints and reduces pain, can prevent weight gain, reduce risk for cancer and chronic disease, improve endurance, circulation and posture, and the list goes on.”

While John Ford, an exercise physiologist, says that running is often a more effective workout in that it involves more muscle groups, he largely agrees with Green's assessment that walking can be a great form of exercise.

"... Walking is a really good form of exercise and can help you reach your fitness and weight-loss goals," Ford told NBC News. "As a lifelong track athlete, who has marveled at race walkers (check out the Olympic walkers on YouTube!), I don’t scoff at walking.

“In fact, walking is the suggested workout over running for many people. For example, those with knee, ankle and back problems and also for people who are overweight to obese. Walking is a lower impact exercise and can be done for longer periods of time.”

As for Simpson's diet, Pasternak opted for a wholesome, nutritious meal plan filled with protein, fiber and fat, with the singer consuming three meals per day and two snacks. According to the fitness guru, the key to a successful diet isn't to relinquish all indulgences but rather to be mindful of them. 

"She'll have foods that are very flavorable that are healthier versions of things like a tortilla soup or Tex-Mex. And if she has a birthday party one night and a date night another night, she's going to indulge both of those nights, but that's it. It's about balancing in a way that doesn't make it painful or too much of a departure from your life before that."

Hitting the gym was only a small part of Simpson's fitness plan, with far less importance than her building up good habits. 

"My mantra is you get lean in life, and strong in the gym. So the majority of the weight loss actually came from everything she did outside of the gym, and then everything in the gym is about toning and tightening," Pasternak said.

The singer would text her trainer every night, informing him that she successfully completed all five tasks assigned to her. With that habit, Simpson would stay motivated and feel accomplished at the end of her day. "She can go to bed with a sense of fulfillment, and that's everything," Pasternak said. "And as a byproduct of doing these habits, she lost 100 pounds."

That holistic approach might have been exactly what Simpson needed, given that the star had struggled for many years with her weight. The singer has long been open about her weight struggles, which only became exasperated thanks to living life in the public, sometimes unforgiving, eye. In her memoir, "Open Book," released in Feb. 2020, Simpson wrote of her reliance on diet pills to keep her weight in check, which started when she was still a teenager, leading to an addiction that would last two decades.

In an excerpt from her book shared by People magazine, the singer alleged that at just 17 years old, record label chairman and CEO Tommy Mottola told her she needed to lose 15 pounds to get signed with his label. "I immediately went on an extremely strict diet, and started taking diet pills, which I would do for the next 20 years," Simpson revealed. But even after successfully landing her record deal, the young star became even more anxious about her weight as the pressure increased. In 2009, her figure became scrutinized by the media after Simpson performed a concert in loose-fitting "mom jeans" – she was a size four. 

"We all see our flaws, and mine were just there for the world to rip apart. They weren't even flaws! They were made into flaws that I didn't even know I had," she told People. "It's insane what can make a headline."

Today, Simpson says she is glad that society's outlook on women's bodies is slowly changing for the better, with the conversation becoming less toxic over the years.

"I just thank God that times are changing and people are standing up for themselves and not making it about body image," she said. "I hope I can be part of that change and that my daughters will grow up in a world where they can accept themselves at any size."

In Simpson's recent Instagram posts, the star shares many photos from her day-to-day life, showing off her love for yoga and spending quality time with her young children.  "Starting the week with a warrior mindset aligned with the beauty of the sunset," she captioned a photo from this fall, which featured the star practicing her warrior pose. 

The 40-year-old also took to her page to share a photo just before her milestone birthday to share with fans that she could fit in a pair of 14-year-old jeans. "... Have kept these throwback True Religion jeans in my closet for 14 yrs (I'm not exaggerating!)," she captioned her post. "I figured that since I'm in the final hours of my 30's I'd give them another try, and hello 40, so nice to meet you!"

Simpson's tremendous progress proves that the secret is to work towards a generally healthier lifestyle, focusing on a wholesome diet, good sleep and plenty of water when it comes to fitness. But most importantly, it just shows that our health should always come first, no matter the crazy standards society might put on our bodies. 

What do you think about Jessica Simpson's new healthy habits? Would you consider trying them out? Let us know and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!