I sure love me some Keyshia Cole. But I don't get to talk to the 29-year-old R&B powerhouse quite as often these days with so much on her plate.
I'm talking about a new Top 10 album, Calling All Hearts, a fast-approaching tour, an impending wedding to Cleveland Cavaliers player Daniel Gibson, their baby, Daniel Gibson Jr., about to turn one and, of course, mom Frankie checking out of Celebrity Rehab (man, she sure smuggled a lot of wigs in there with her!).
Fortunately, I got a few minutes to catch up with Keysh in December right before the album dropped about how she lost the baby weight and her upcoming plans to walk down the aisle. Read on!
UsMagazine.com: You look amazing How do you feel about your body right now?
Keyshia Cole: I feel great. I definitely feel that I am where I was before I got pregnant. It took a lot of preparing and working out during the pregnancy and after -- definitely a lot of hard work that pays off.
US: How much weight did you gain while you were pregnant?
KC: Fifty pounds.
US: Wow! So you lost that in how long?
KC: I pretty much lost it once Daniel came. He was pretty much all of it. I definitely gained a lot of weight in my backside area. I think in my arms and things like that so I just did a lot of toning and stuff for that. I've never really been a big girl -- I've always been pretty small.
US: What was your fitness goal after you got pregnant? Was it just to lose the 50 pounds? I guess to tone up too, right?
KC: Yeah to tone up. Just because you have to stay healthy to even be able to sing on the road and do all the promos and do the concerts. There were about 15 pounds that stayed with me after I had my son, and it was kind of tough to get that off. I would look at the pictures and look at my back and be like, "What happened?"
US: What kind of diet do you typically follow?
KC: During the time that I was working out in L.A. I had a chef there and ate chicken and fish and occasionally I like shrimp and chicken soup. Nothing really fried or anything like that. A bunch of vegetables and—nothing really with a lot of taste.
US: What's a typical daily menu? What do you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks?
KC: I like turkey bacon and egg whites, of course small portions. But occasionally I'll have a bagel because I love bagels. For lunch and dinner, I usually eat baked chicken or fish and a lot of vegetables and salads. And for snacks, my last chef had me eating frozen grapes, which taste like ice cream! I also try to eat apples and stuff like that.
US: Tell me about your current workout routine. What do you do?
KC: I had worked with Greg Miele and his partner Gunnar out in LA. We didn't really do a lot of cardio. We just did like a lot of weight training. We do about 45 minutes of weight training and then we five minutes of cardio or five minutes on the bike. Pretty much the whole time weight training or boxing training. I like working over there with Greg and Gunnar because they have a lot of different techniques for working out.
US: Do you ever work out with Daniel?
KC: We did a lot. My double chin was a little much for him. So he started to go, “Let’s go in the gym. Come on, come on, come on!” I'm like, "Seriously? Once I get started you won’t ever have to worry."
US: But he's supportive, right?
KC: Yeah, I had to cuss him out about my double chin, but after that we got it together.
US: When you eventually have the wedding, are you going to work harder to get more in shape for the wedding?
KC: Yeah, most definitely. I still have a lot of the muscle toning from when I worked out with Greg about a month and a half ago.
US: Do you know when the wedding is going to be or have you gotten into the planning?
KC: I would like for it to be soon! I really want to have a perfect wedding: with horses and a real waterfall. I was thinking about Bora Bora or somewhere where we just take all of our people with us on one big American Airline plane or something I just want to be alone on an island somewhere in front of a waterfall with horse and carriages -- all white and gold.
US: Have you started planning officially?
KC: Sort of, but not really. I definitely am writing a lot of things down as far as what I want and what I won't negotiate on.
US: And you're busy now with the album anyway. How do you feel about it?
KC: I felt the way I felt before Steve and I both met, and then experiencing these life changing moments we have together. I think it's a very strong album -- I know what people love and I know what they love to hear from me. I think that it's going to be one of my best albums.
US: Are you going to bring your baby on the road?
KC: Most definitely. My baby is going to be a touring baby. My little best friend!
US: How do you make all that work with Daniel and traveling and both of your careers?
KC: We’re like every other couple that has things to do. You just have to work it out. You have to take it one day at a time and have an understanding for each other's careers. This is our life and we have to deal with it the best way that we can. So at times we might miss each other terribly.
US: But you’re happy right now?
KC: Yes. And so is he. We do the best that we can to work it out because like I said we deal with each other a lot. But you know, there's always iChat and quick trips.
By Ian Drew for UsMagazine.com. To read more of Ian's blog, click here, and don't forget to follow him on Twitter.
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