Don't give up; Jillian Michaels doesn't want you to. The fitness hero, author, workout DVD guru and star of "The Biggest Loser" is currently touring with her live show, Maximize Your Life.

"The premise of the show is about maximizing your life and involves the science of nutrition," Michaels said. "I'm not reinventing the wheel here. People know how to lose weight. You just might not know all you need to know to make it happen. How come two thirds of our country is obese? How come people are getting held back from their dream jobs or the way they really want to look everyday? I challenge people to discover the ways they're sabotaging themselves. What is holding you back? I want to give you the knowledge and inspiration to break through it."

Michaels often gets stopped on the street when she's out in public from fans seeking fitness and weight loss tips. "I never mind it," Michaels said. "I'm happy people are asking me and I want to help."
Michaels maintains the key to getting fit and ditching the fat is having the right tools and achieving small victories. "You need a concrete achievement to believe in," Michaels said. "I talk about this in the second half of my live show, but you need to set goal pyramids for yourself and that's what keeps you going. Small successes accumulate and really redefine a person's potential."

As a mom to two children with her partner Heidi Rhoades, she maintains an impressive schedule as a personal trainer, talk show host, entrepreneur and star on reality series "The Biggest Loser." Michaels has the daily challenge of finding balance in her happily fast-paced life. "Every day I'm overextended," Michaels said. "I let someone down. There's only so much time. We can have it all but not all of the time. For my Miami show, my schedule was so slammed with press, the demands of the show and personal obligations, I ended up getting sick and we had to cancel my April 20 show in Miami. I feel terrible about it because I know we have a lot of fans in Miami."

Michaels is set to perform in North Florida with shows in Jacksonvlile April 17 and Clearwater April 18. Then she will move on to Georgia, Washington D.C. and North Carolina. She's unable to reschedule a make up date for Miami due to filming back to back seasons of "The Biggest Loser." Season 15 of the show is now looking for contestants on

Michaels says she still keeps in touch with about 30 percent of the people she trained on the hit NBC show that tracks the progress of overweight contestants as they break off into teams and battle to lose the most weight to become "The Biggest Loser."

"Danni Allen is coming out on the road with me for a few dates and I still speak to Hannah, Olivia, Michelle and many others," Michaels said. "We look at 'The Biggest Loser' as an emergency room. We give them the tools they need to get healthy again and they have to keep going with it. For the contestants who get voted off early and I may only get to spend a couple weeks with them, I always hope they have learned enough to at least set a foundation for a healthier lifestyle."

While there's still a myth out there that if you can't workout for a minimum of 40 minutes, you shouldn't bother, Michaels emphasizes something is always better than nothing. "If you don't have time for a 40 or 60 minute workout, do a 30 minute workout but jog instead of walking. You have to maximize your time. You have to make every one of those 30 minutes really count."
If you want to lose weight, nutrition and exercise are key. Michaels warns however to look closely at what you're putting into your body even if it's part of a diet plan. "I've eaten grains all my life and I'm healthy. I also take hundreds of pounds off people eating grains," Michaels explained. "If you're doing something like the Paleo diet, it concerns me because you have to really look at the quality of the food. You're eating bacon and other meats and you have to be sure it's organic and not filled with junk. If you want to eat like that and never touch bread God bless, but I don't think the diet is sustainable for many people."

When she's not filming or touring, Michaels enjoys spending time with her young son and daughter.
"I play with my kids. I get outside with them and wrestle with them or push them on their little car," Michaels added. "Don't get me wrong. They still like TV or playing with their iPad, but the goal is to get them moving and doing activities with them even though they're little."

For tickets to Jillian's upcoming shows visit VIP tickets are also available. For more information on Jillian's fitness products and tips, visit

Contact Joanie Cox-Henry at of follow her tweets at