Lele Pons, the Venezuelan singer and YouTube sensation, knows how to post striking images. That's one way she grew her social media following to 47 million. And she posted another wow image of herself yesterday, with her underwater in a pool in a bathing suit, kissing a man who looks like rapper Guaynaa, who also shared the photos. The caption was a simple “splash” emoji. (The duo, who are reported to be a couple, released a duet Se Te Nota in September 2020.) How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Lele Pons stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!
1. She Cut Down the Sugar
Lele underwent a fitness transformation, and before taking it seriously, Pons would down “Coca-Cola every single day, chocolate every single night with milk. That’s what I used to do every single day.” Smart choice. Your digestive system turns that Coke and chocolate into glucose—the form of sugar your body uses for energy—and sends it into the bloodstream. Zap! You got energy. But glucose is actually toxic when it lingers in the bloodstream, so when the glucose hits, your pancreas—a large gland located near your stomach—produces insulin, a hormone, and sends that into the bloodstream as well. Insulin is your body’s air traffic controller: it takes command of all your glucose and directs it into your cells, where it can be used for rebuilding muscle, for keeping your heart pumping and your brain thinking, for exercising or singing or dancing. But overeating on a consistent basis—or taking in too many calories too quickly, like when we eat sweets or drink sweetened beverages—turns insulin into the boy who cried wolf. Eventually your body’s insulin receptors—the docking stations where insulin parks glucose—begin to ignore insulin’s instructions. That’s a condition known as insulin resistance. After several years, the pancreas gets fed up with producing all that ineffective insulin and begins to produce less than you need. This is called type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes.
2. She Did a Hardcore Workout
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images
“RESULTS💪🏼 more than 2 months of hardcore workouts and diet with @dianamaux ! Feeling great ❤️ love you Diana!” she posted during her transformation. Here’s a superset from personal trainer Mark Langowski based on similar methods:
- Reverse burpee with triceps push up.
Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart. Bend your knees and tilt at the waist, bending over until your hands touch the floor. Now slowly walk your hands forward until you are in a pushup position, but with your hands only 6 inches apart. Do a push up, keeping your elbows tucked close to your body. Then walk your hands back to the starting position, bend your knees and stand up. 8 reps
- Hanging leg raise.
While you can do this exercise while hanging from a bar, you’ll find it easier and just as effective using the Roman chair—that’s the piece of equipment that looks like a chair with two arm rests, but the seat removed. Brace yourself against the back of the chair and grip the handles of the arm rest. Keeping your knees slightly bent, raise your legs straight out in front of you in a controlled manner, until they are parallel to the ground. Slowly lower by counting to 4 on the way down. Repeat 12 times.
3. She Drank Milk Alternatives
Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Pons swapped in non-dairy milks for her usual. "According to studies, oat milk can effectively reduce serum cholesterol levels," Dr. Rashmi Byakodi, a health and wellness writer and the editor of Best for Nutrition, tells our sister site Eat This, Not That!, which adds: “The dairy-free milk can also be effective in lowering your ‘bad’ cholesterol.” Says Byakodi: "Beta-glucans present in oat milk helps to decrease plasma cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations. Also, it is believed that oat milk replaces saturated fat [typically found in dairy milk] with unsaturated fat."
4. She Has Discipline
During her workout journey, Pons posted: “Before vs. Now 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼... wanted to make this video to show that with exercising everyday, a proper nutrition , and discipline you can achieve your goal. Some may take longer than others and some faster depending on your metabolism cause all bodies are built different. But with determination you will get to where you want to get. It’s possible if you push yourself to be your best version. Thank you @dianamaux.”
5. She’s Open About Her Mental Health
Johnny Louis/WireImage
"I am very, very grateful to have helped a lot of people, grateful to have had the chance to educate people who don't know what OCD and Tourette's are," Pons said, according to E!. "It's very important to actually also push people to get better, take their medicine, go to get help, go to get a good support system, to help parents understand their kids have whatever they have, help to understand that it is not something that's going to define you. It's not something you should be ashamed about. And I wanted to show that to everybody."
Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images
Medios y Media/Getty Images
Victor Chavez/Getty Images
Victor Chavez/Getty Images
Shutterstock
