Jessica Simpson gave birth to her daughter Birdie Mae six months ago. Jessica recently posted an Instagram where she talked about her postpartum weight loss journey, where she claims to have lost 100 pounds in six months. A lot of us were like “huh?” Jessica always gains a lot of weight during her pregnancies, it’s just the way she’s built, but pregnancy doesn’t really explain that kind of weight gain and loss. I think Jessica was saying that she was already carrying around more weight than she would have liked when she got pregnant with Birdie, and then she gained a lot of weight during her pregnancy. Anyway, Jessica’s trainer Harley Pasternak spoke to People Magazine about the program he developed for Jessica this year:

Jessica called Pasternak days after giving birth: Jessica gave her longtime trainer Harley Pasternak a call “days after she gave birth,” he tells PEOPLE. “I’ve kind of helped her come back after each baby, and this is a bit different, in that she said she was tipping the scales at 240 [post-delivery]. 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,” he says.

The holistic approach: “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. 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.”

Simpson had five daily tasks: getting in her steps, unplugging from technology for an hour, getting sleep, eating healthfully and exercising. The first task was easy for Simpson, who loves walking because “it’s a social thing that she can do with her kids,” Pasternak says. He had her start with 6,000 steps a day for the first few weeks, and then slowly build back up to her usual 12,000.

The diet changes were based on Pasternak’s Body Reset Diet.“It’s three meals and two snacks a day, and each meal has protein, fiber and fat, and snacks are protein and fiber or protein and fat,” he says. “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.”

Gym time: And then a smaller portion of the 5-step process was working out. Pasternak says she would hit the gym for about 45 minutes, three days a week. “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,” he says.

It wasn’t about reaching a number: “I never work with scales,” he says. “My work with her is more about the habits she’s created and kept up. Every night before she goes to bed she sends an email showing that she hit all five tasks, so she’ll go to bed feeling successful. She’s hit her step goal, she’s eaten well, she’s balanced her responsibilities — so she can go to bed with a sense of fulfillment, and that’s everything. And as a byproduct of doing these habits, she lost 100 lbs.”

[From People]

It actually sounds like one of the better programs I’ve read about regarding celebrities. So many celebs go on crazy-restrictive diets or talk about spending hours in the gym, but this program is basically eating healthier (and I would imagine eating smaller portions) and walking a lot and just making sure to get sleep and work out at the gym at a comfortable level. And this was how Jessica lost 100 pounds? I guess.

These are photos of Jessica in New York recently.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.