Adrienne Bailon Reveals How She Got Down to 101 Pounds for Her Wedding

Adrienne Bailon might be our new fitness guru. Though she’s never looked out of shape by most standards, the host of The Real, 33, insists she’s had times when she wasn’t as fit as she would have liked to be in the past — specifically, when she fell in love with her now-husband, Israel Houghton. “I think when you’re in a relationship and having fun you can indulge, so to speak,” she told Yahoo Celebrity. “You’re being wined and dined, and it can be easy to forget to keep things in balance.”

Ironically, it was getting engaged that kicked her diet and exercise into high gear. “I really wanted to get fit for my wedding because I wanted to look my best,” she explained. To do this, she enlisted the help of both a trainer and a nutritionist — and with their assistance, she trimmed herself down to a cool 101 pounds for her big day.

“I went to Dr. Hughes, who was recommended to me by Tamera [Mowry],” Bailon revealed. “Hughes really helped me get perspective on nutrition, and that was really important to me. I didn’t want to follow any crazy fad diets. I wanted to do this the right way.”

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But that hardly meant that she’d never tried crazy fads in the past. Asked about the craziest thing she’d tried to lose weight, she rattled off quite a list, including the master cleanse (that’s the lemon juice/cayenne pepper torture), juicing, “souping” (cabbage soup, specifically), and some red light treatment at her tanning salon that yielded lackluster results. “I paid so much money for a huge package of that,” Bailon laughed. “Oops!”

This time around, Bailon followed the nutritionist’s advice and started by cutting out all carbs. “That was really tough at first,” she admitted. “Because I was basically a carb-aholic. I loved, loved, loved carbs. I was the cheapest date ever because I could literally eat the bread basket for dinner. I was also kind of a fast-food junkie. That was my comfort food. Since I was always on the go and traveling, fast food was around a lot. And then, there was the drinking. I didn’t realize how many calories were in the smallest girlie, fruity cocktail. All of those choices really added up.”

In addition to cutting out carbs, Bailon stocked up on greens. “I made a conscious effort not to just eat tons of meat because I wasn’t eating carbs,” she added. “For breakfast, I would have a green juice from Creation.” Her juice of choice was Creation’s 50 Shades of Green. “It was important to me that when I was drinking smoothies and juices, they weren’t just loaded with fruit, which just turns into sugar.” For lunch, she’d opt for something simple like salmon sashimi. Dinner consisted of a big salad with a clean fish (i.e., not fish slathered in butter). While she struggled at first, by day 22 Bailon said her body was no longer craving carbs and she felt like a new woman. (The fact that her stylist at The Real kept having to take in her clothes over and over helped keep her motivated too.)

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But she didn’t want to just be thin for her wedding; she wanted to be strong. “I brought in this incredible trainer named Massy Arias. She’s trained Lala [Anthony] and Angela Simmons, and she really knows what she’s doing,” Bailon explained. Arias had her start doing a combination of cardio and circuit training to tone her shape. “I had to get 45 minutes of cardio in first thing in the morning,” Bailon reported, noting that she did most of this on an elliptical at the gym, but that she sometimes mixed it up with SoulCycle, hot Pilates, and hiking in L.A.’s Griffith Park. (Runyon Canyon was closed.) Thanks to all of her hard work, Bailon looked better than ever the day she and Houghton exchanged vows.

She’s not satisfied yet, however! “My first goal was to be in shape for my wedding, but now my goal is to be in shape for bikini season,” she gushed. “I love the saying that abs are built in the winter. This is the time that you have to build it so that by summer you’re good to go. If you don’t start until June, it’s too late.” She added that at first, when she and Houghton had started their fitness kick together, she was frustrated that he dropped weight faster than she did, but she doesn’t feel that way anymore. “At some point he plateaued and I kept going and everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, you’ve lost so much weight!'” she laughed.

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Bailon’s goal to be bikini-ready is a common one, but studies show that most people give up on their New Year’s resolutions by February. Her advice to people who are trying to get — and stay — in shape just like she is? “There’s always Monday!” she laughed. “You can always start fresh on Monday.” She also adds that while many people give themselves “cheat days,” she recommends “cheat meals,” noting that the smaller deviation from the routine has less adverse effect on one’s results but still allows for the occasional needed break.

Her body might be going through more changes in the future, though, since kids are starting to cross her mind. “I do want a family, but there’s no rush,” she said. “I definitely want to be a mom, so we’ll see what happens!”