Ronda Rousey Struggled With Bulimia, Did "All Kinds of Crazy Stuff" Trying to Get a Perfect Body

UFC fighter says it's "been a long process" getting in tip-top shape, but it wasn't until she was happy that she got the "oh wow" body

By Rebecca Macatee Jul 17, 2015 6:01 PMTags
Ronda RouseyBuda Mendes/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ronda Rousey is strong and healthy—and it shows!

But the UFC fighter didn't always have the positive relationship with her body that she does today. In an interview with Bobbi Brown for Yahoo! Beauty, the 28-year-old said in that in her younger years, she "struggled with bulimia" and did "all kinds of crazy stuff" in her misguided quest to look a certain way.

"I was unhappy," she recalled. "I had to attend to all of the other things in my life, like my career and my training, to get to a point where I trained just because I loved it. I didn't even know that was what I wanted, but I made myself happy first and then got the 'oh wow' body."

That "oh wow" body didn't happen overnight, either. "Well it's been a long process," Ronda said. "What I really realized I was doing wrong was dieting and training and doing all of these things that I didn't even like to get this idea of the body that I wanted. I was focused on the results, instead of the process. I was unhappy and thought that when I got the right body I would be happy. But I was going at it backwards. I had to make myself happy first and then the body came. "

Ronda has some advice, too, for anyone else wanting to get in tip-top shape. "Drink as much water as possible all day long. I swear to god people say it all the time, but you really need to listen," she told Yahoo! Beauty. "And find a way to train that you enjoy and that you're excited about—training should not be a chore. Same thing with eating, junk food shouldn't be a reward, or the thing you look forward to. Find healthy foods that you love and stick to them."

Ronda makes a point to try and switch up her workouts. "Then it's like, 'Oh my god what am I going to do today?' instead of, 'I have to go do my regular gym routine,'" she said. "There is no routine. I purposefully try to do something different every day to keep my muscles confused and my mind interested."

As for her diet? "I eat throughout the day," she told Yahoo Beauty. "I have three meals and two snacks and it changes according to what I need at the time. When I am in MMA training camp trying to build muscle, I am eating differently toward the end of the training camp when I am trying to keep my weight on."

She only "rarely" drinks alcohol, she said, and is also "pretty much gluten-free; I barely ever eat bread and the only dairy I eat is Greek yogurt and goat cheese."

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