RHOC’s Emily Simpson’s Personal Trainer Shares How To Avoid Gaining The Quarantine 15

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The entire world is currently stuck inside self-quarantining due to the coronavirus and if you feel like you’ve been gaining weight from eating non-stop and not exercising, that’s all about to change. Real Housewives of Orange County star, Emily Simpson’s, 44, trainer, Paulina Stein, told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY how you can avoid gaining weight during this time.

Paulina created a program to help people stay healthy and lose weight, which Paulina explained. “It basically targets calorie deficits. So it doesn’t have to be an insane diet program, which I see a lot of,” she admits. “You know, you can only eat a thousand calories a day. You have to do an hour of cardio. So I tell my clients, ‘I want you to work out 45 minutes or less, whether that be cleaning your house, walking your dog, walking your kids, doing anything.’ And then also focusing not on seeing less but eating better. And just balancing those out. I feel like that’s what’s different about my program, is that it’s a little bit easier to follow. It’s not all in or nothing. And then you know, if clients do slip off or they have a bad meal, I just tell them, ‘You know what? Forget about it. That’s in the past. Let’s keep moving forward.'”

Paulina’s advice for avoiding the quarantine 15, is, “There are different reasons you gain weight during stress. Stress plays a big role in that. And I’m sure with a lot of people, it’s the unknown. We don’t know what’s going to happen and that plays a role. We can gain one to two pounds a week just from stress and also not sleeping as well, but also sitting on your couch, not moving, et cetera. I think the biggest thing is taking a piece of paper in the morning, putting it on your kitchen counter or on your table, somewhere where you see it and write down your goals for the day, whether that be a walk for 30 minutes, walk to the end of the street and back,. Choose healthier alternatives and stop baking. I feel like a lot of the time during quarantine, people are like, ‘Oh, you know, I’m going to bake because I’m bored.’ That’s one of the things you wouldn’t do if you weren’t in quarantine. So it’s just trying to live as normal life as possible in the not so normal circumstances.”

During this time of quarantine, Paulina revealed what Emily has been eating, which is a great program to follow for anyone who feels like they are losing self-control. “I have her on my 12-week program. So it’s basically that same program as the calorie deficit. It is focusing on eating healthier, not less. She has her slip-ups, which I totally know. She is very open about it, but I encourage her to keep going. It doesn’t matter if you have your kids’ Cheez-its or your brownies or chicken nuggets, whatever you’re eating, as long as you’re working out, you’re being consistent with it and you’re focusing on adding healthier alternatives.”

Paulina continued, “So let’s say she wants tacos, I say, ‘Hey, let’s make a healthier version of the tacos that you’re craving,’ and sometimes she’ll even text me for help. The biggest thing about my program is the accountability, that they feel like they have a friend in this. That I’m there to support them and encourage them and push them to keep going. When you are doing this alone, it’s a lot harder. So having that community of support where you have weak moments, you’re like, ‘Paulina, I feel like I’m going to eat this chocolate brownie and I’m going to eat the whole plate.’ You can text me and I’ll encourage you. ‘Hey, maybe let’s have two and then let’s move on.'”

As for Emily, she has lost a ton of weight and has managed to keep it off, and Paulina admitted she has seen both physical and mental changes in Emily ever since. “She is a completely different person. You know, I think the biggest change with Emily is the mental change. I remember when I first started with her, she would dread getting up in the morning. She’d be like, ‘Do we have to do this today? do we have to?’ Until I was really like, ‘Come on Emily, you can do this. We got this.’ And to the point where that, that mentality switched. To the point where she was texting me at 5:00 AM being like, ‘Hey let’s work out today.’ And then when she’d show up she was happy and bubbly and dancing. I feel like from there on the inches just start falling off and the weight started falling off because she was happy and she enjoyed what she was doing.”