“When I was younger, I used to work out to lose weight. Now it’s for me — first and foremost, my mental health,” the ‘RHOBH’ star said of the motivation behind her weight loss transformation. “The fact that it makes me look good is just a bonus.”
Kyle Richards is getting candid about her weight loss transformation.
In a new interview with Us Weekly, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star opened up about her workout routine and what motivated her to focus on her health, as well as where she stands with estranged husband, Mauricio Umansky, amid their ongoing separation.
“I had a breast reduction [in 2022], and I wasn’t able to work out for eight weeks. At the time, I was on vacation in Europe, eating pasta and drinking wine and cocktails. By the end of the trip, I didn’t recognize myself,” Richards said of what motivated her to get healthy. “I had also just lost my best friend to suicide, and I wasn’t taking care of myself. And [it was] making me feel more depressed. So after we left, I said, ‘That’s it. I’m not going to have bad carbs — no sugar, no pasta, no bread, no alcohol. And I’m going to work out every single day.”
Removing alcohol from her life made perhaps the biggest change for the reality star, who told the outlet she started seeing results “pretty fast.”
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“Even though I wasn’t a big drinker, removing alcohol made such a difference in my skin and how I felt,” she added.
While doing a total overhaul on her health has been great for Richards, the move was met with some pushback from her RHOBH castmates, who questioned her sobriety and her new, active lifestyle.
“I don’t understand why doing something good for you is looked down upon. I was up at five o’clock, why wouldn’t I do something that makes me feel good and gives me energy?” the Halloween alum said of the backlash she received after working out during a cast trip to Las Vegas. “Maybe it’s a reflection of something they don’t like about themselves.”
Of choosing to get sober, Richards, who has lost a total of 15 pounds, said that too has been interesting, and has also been met with resistance from he peers.
“When you choose to stop drinking on your own, it’s interesting how it’s met with such resistance from your peers. In the beginning, I was like, I’m just going to pretend [I’m drinking]. I would whisper to the waiter, ‘I’m going to order a vodka soda, and then just bring me a club soda.’ But then a couple of my friends were like, ‘What are you doing? You drink margaritas.’ It just got to the point where I was like, ‘Why am I having to pretend at my age?,'” she explained. “I think about my daughters and peer pressure, and here I am, feeling like I don’t want to be pressured into this. So I stopped pretending. I was just like, ‘Guys, I promise you, I am still going to be fun.'”
Richards’ workout routine includes weight training, with the TV and film actress telling the outlet that she alternates between her arms and legs, adding an ab workout daily.
“I’ve always worked out, but I was doing the same thing on repeat — I’d go on hikes and spin,” Richards explained. “I started including weights, hot yoga [and] running, especially when going through a hard time. It really clears my head.”
She added, “I started doing a Peloton 10-minute abs thing, then 15 minutes every day.”
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While Richards has made a major transformation when it comes to her health, it’s come at a particularly tough time for the TV personality, who separated from her longtime husband earlier this year, after 27 years of marriage.
While the pair have made the decision to take some time away from their marriage, they are very much functioning like a family, with both Richards and Umansky continuing to live in their Los Angeles home with their four daughters.
“We still live in the same house and we spent [the holidays] together. I have no idea how long we’ll be like that, but we are trying to be as normal as possible in a very un-normal situation,” Richards told Us Weekly.
She continued, “We love each other. We go to therapy. We both want to see each other happy. I don’t know what the future looks like. That’s the hardest part because the unknown is scary.”
