One part of slimming down really bums out Nikki Bella. Thanks to her Dancing With the Stars stint and adherence to calorie counting, “I feel like my butt doesn’t look like it used to,” admits the two-time WWE Divas champ, set to wed John Cena in 2018. “That’s the one thing that sucks about losing weight. I’m like, ‘Can I lose it in my inner thigh before you take it from my butt?’”
Her twin sister, Brie, would prefer to offer up her tummy. Nine months after having daughter Birdie (with retired wrestler Daniel Bryan), “I have this little tire,” she says. But with just 10 pounds to her goal, “I know I can lose it.”
The 34-year-old Birdiebee founders talk body in the new issue of Us Weekly.
US: Brie, how tough has it been bouncing back?
BB: A lot more challenging than I realized! You’re so sleep-deprived, you’re just trying to find any ounce of energy you have left.
US: Did you start slow?
BB: Power walking, then the bike and elliptical, anything that wasn’t too demanding because I was recovering from a C-section. It was weird, because you’re so trapped inside, it was the one time I was like, “Yes, I’ll go the gym!”
US: What’s been the most effective workout?
BB: Definitely training in the ring. You can go running all day, but you have a 10-minute match and you might get blown up. I’ve been doing Orangetheory: You’re lifting and then jump on the treadmill. It reminds me of a ring performance.
US: Nikki, what’s your go-to?
NB: I like to do barre classes a few days a week and in between, I go to the gym. I’m the elliptical queen. After playing soccer and wrestling, it keeps it easy on the knees.
US: What’s your lifting strategy: light or heavy?
NB: More repetition, less weight. But I miss squatting heavy. I feel like my legs were able to get toned and my butt stayed bigger.
US: Are you guys big dieters or everything in moderation?
BB: I’m getting into a strict diet. It’s hard because breast-feeding sometimes will make me more hungry than when I was pregnant. But Nikki is big on counting calories using this app MyFitnessPal, so I downloaded that.
NB: I’ll wake up and even put in my wine for the night so that I know I can only consume so much.
US: Anything you avoid?
NB: I don’t eat red meat. And if I want carbs, I usually have them in the morning.
BB: I’m a vegetarian. For dinner I’m always making something. Last night it was cauliflower wings! But I do allow myself cheat meals. When I’ve been good for four days, my husband and I are like, “Let’s share a pizza!”
US: Nikki, with your wedding coming up, are you really cracking down?
NB: Not yet. But I do have a plan to become strict like a month or two out.
US: Will you focus on your upper body?
NB: I want to make sure head-to-toe looks good. Because then you go on the honeymoon. We haven’t picked ours yet, but it will probably be something that has me in a bikini — or naked.
US: Brie, what’s your goal?
BB: Definitely to get into ring shape. And then to get my abs back. I feel like 2018 is the year of the Bellas, so I have to get ready.
