On Dec. 5, 2015, Kim Kardashian gave birth to the sweet little boy that is her son Saint West.
She didn’t really stay in her nest cooing at her baby though. Instead, the reality star immediately got busy losing the weight she gained during her pregnancy. Kim had a big motivator to help her eat differently and bust ass at the gym every day: her summer GQ cover, on which she posed almost naked.
“You set a date for a shoot and you know you have to be there,” she told WWD. “It made me feel so good about myself knowing I had come so far. I had to lose, like, 60 pounds (27kg) to get there. I had just had my second baby. I thought, ‘I want to feel sexy again. I want to feel good about myself,’ and that was what did it for me.”
On top of an intense daily exercise regimen that she Snapchatted regularly — she’d be in the gym with her trainer Don Brooks starting at 6 a.m. — she also put herself on the Atkins 40, a low-carb diet that involves eating 40 grams of net carbs a day.
“I did a strict Atkin’s diet. Strict, strict, strict,” Kim told WWD. “It was really hard for me to diet [with the] first baby. This time was so much easier and I realized [it comes down to] the food. I mean, I love to work out and you definitely have to work out to tone up, but so much of it is how you eat. I had to really stay focused. I had to cut out all the sweets and I had such a sweet tooth. After-baby body? I welcome that challenge. It’s so crazy to see what your body can go through and what it’s capable of.”
In May, she had gotten down to 132 pounds (59.8kg), below her pre-baby weight of 135 pounds (61.2kg), but determined to get to 120 (54.4kg), she still had more to lose. (There was even speculation last week that Kim had lost as much as 7 pounds (3kg) in two weeks.)
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According to Kim’s nutritionist Colette Heimowitz, M.Sc., vice president of nutrition communication and education at Atkins Nutritionals, Kim had a sentimental reason for going with Atkins, which was the diet craze of the early 2000s.
“When she was in college, she actually did it with her dad,” Heimowitz told Cosmopolitan.com. “She had fond memories of doing it with her father and she was successful on it. She never really had a weight problem except during those college years when she gained the college 15. And then when she gained so much weight with the pregnancy, she went with what worked for her in the past.”
Kim did the Atkins program after giving birth to North West three years ago, then again after Saint’s birth last December. Here’s what Kim did on her diet this time to make such remarkable progress:
1. She paced the weight loss. Even though Kim was relentless and aggressive, she wasn’t reckless, especially because post-pregnancy she wanted to produce breast milk. “I wanted her to be prepared for a slow, steady weight loss rather than a dramatic, fast weight loss,” Heimowitz said. “Everyone wants to lose fast, right away. I gave her a nutritionist’s rationale why slow and steady is better in her predicament.”
2. She got an adequate balance of healthy food. In keeping with the plan, Kim ate lots of protein and healthy fats, along with a mix of high-fiber carbohydrates. A typical day for Kim might start with a breakfast of two eggs with cheese and spinach, a snack of Greek yogurt with blueberries and slivered almonds, a salad with creamy dressing for lunch, another snack of hummus and vegetables, and dinner of chicken breast, broccoli, and salad. “The key to success is the carbohydrates are low enough that the body burns fat for fuel,” Heimowitz said. “You’re eating five, six times a day, so you’re not hungry. You’re satisfied, you’re satiated, and you’re less tempted to cheat.”
3. She occasionally indulged her sweet tooth, but not with sugar. Kim has a thing for sweets, but sugar is the biggest no-no when you’re on Atkins. She got her fix with packaged treats from Atkins like the Harvest Trail Bars and chocolate peanut butter cups.
4. She had help from local chefs. “She had the convenience of having somebody cook her meals,” Heimowitz said. “She’s in a position to have that luxury.” The Atkins-trained team would deliver “gourmet” meals that fit within the parameters of the program. Here’s a sampling of the dishes Kim liked:
- Grilled lime chicken over spinach salad with feta ranch dressing
- Mediterranean tuna salad over kale
- Vegetable soup with low-carb grilled cheese
- Shredded chicken enchiladas with roasted squash
- Fresh mozzarella with tomato and balsamic, sliced chicken and garlic aioli
- Chicken sausage and cauliflower sauté
- Crustless Gruyère cheese quiche
5. She was highly self-motivated. If you follow Kim on Snapchat, then you know she’s logging those minutes on the treadmill and doing those leg lifts. “I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities and she just got it. She was bright and she understood and she was motivated and committed.”
6. She doubled down at the end. As she got closer to her goal weight of 120 pounds (54.4kg), Kim dropped from Atkins 40 to Atkins 20, an even stricter program that only allows 20 grams of net carbs a day (this was the original diet that was so popular in the early aughts).
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7. She made it her new lifestyle. “That’s the secret to long-term success,” Heimowitz said. “Find a way of eating that’s sustainable for the rest of your life so you don’t have to gain the weight back. That’s where I’m most proud. She’s not using it as a diet to lose weight. She’s using it as a smarter way to eat.”
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Originally appeared on Cosmopolitan.comÂ