Jillian Michaels' Get Fit Tips

Jillian Michaels is a familiar—if intimidating—face for anyone who's followed NBC's "The Biggest Loser." This no-nonsense trainer and self-professed "former fat kid" has been helping overweight contestants shed thousands of pounds, turning morbidly obese adults into fit, energetic athletes. But not everyone's looking for an extreme body makeover—many of us just want to lose those few extra pounds. That's where "Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred" comes in. Michaels' newest DVD helps you tone and sculpt your body and lose those last few inches. Here, she shares some of her own secrets to weight loss success.

Don’t be afraid to push yourself: "People are so placated by groups that say, 'Start by taking the stairs," says Michaels. "What? That makes people think, 'I'm so fragile, I can barely take the staircase.'" In fact, she says, the human body can withstand a lot—and increasing the intensity of your workout is one of the fastest ways to burn calories and lose weight. "The more we hear this false message of lethargy, the more we believe it," she says. "As humans, we have evolved to the point where the sky is not the limit. Your capabilities are, in fact, limitless." So that means pushing yourself to do that last lunge, kicking up the speed on the treadmill, and erring on the side of exhaustion over caution.

Don't waste a minute: When you're exercising, you want to make the most of your time. That's why "30 Day Shred" focuses on a 3-2-1 system: three minutes of weight training, two minutes of cardio and one minute of abs. By doing short bursts of cardio and weight training, you both sculpt muscles and burn fat. "When you move from strength and cardio directly to weight training, your heart rate is still elevated, so you're still burning calories while you tone your muscles," she says. "You're getting the best of both."

Eating "healthy" doesn't cut it: "When my clients tell me they're eating 'healthy,' that's when I know they're eating 100,000 calories a day," she says. "They’ll say, I'm eating avocado, I'm eating olive oil, but those foods are loaded with calories. It doesn’t matter if it's healthy, you still have to watch how much of it you eat." While it's important to keep your diet "clean"—that is, free from junk and full of foods high in nutrients—that doesn't mean you can ignore portion size. "Count your calories. We can talk about health and speeding up your metabolism, but for the layman, what you need to know is that it's an energy equation. Eat less than you burn in a day," says Michaels.

Crunches don't equal abs: Everyone wants flat abs, but crunches alone won't help. "You have to take a holistic approach," says Michaels. "You can’t do crunches and expect to see abs if they’re trapped under a layer of fat." That’s another benefit of the 3-2-1 system compared to abs-only videos. "It gives you an abs workout while creating a fat burning routine," says Michaels.

Push now, relax later: Following her 30-day plan religiously means you can kick back a bit once you've reached your goal weight. "Once you get that weight off, it becomes a different animal," Michaels says. "The hope is that you'll incorporate everything you've learned in the 30 days into a maintenance plan so you can maybe have that glass of wine or that peanut butter cup," she says. "You can go to the gym fewer times a week and work out with less intensity." But until you reach your goal, you have to work hard daily to see results. Don't kill yourself if you fall off the wagon for a day or two. But don't expect to see results if you don’t take the program seriously.

Your body wants you to be a little flabby: "Taking off these last problem pounds requires discipline. You're fighting your body's natural chemistry," she says. Your body wants to keep an extra ten or fifteen pounds on in case of famine, a long winter, or other disasters that have plagued humans throughout history. Losing the last ten pounds isn't always about getting healthy in the same way losing 30 or 40 is. Sometimes, it's about vanity, and for vanity, you have to make sacrifices. "Your body doesn't want to shed that weight just because you are a narcissist and want to wear size two jeans," she says. "You have to trick your body into thinking it's a safe weight," and that means plowing through the program without giving your body the chance to rebound back to its old weight.

"If you can read In Touch on the treadmill, you aren’t working hard enough": Enough said.