Keeping a slim shape is hard to do when your job requires you to taste delicious meals pretty much every day. Yet that is exactly what Padma Lakshmi manages to do.
The Top Chef host told Fitness magazine she has to have a balanced diet and consistent workout routine in order to drop the two dress sizes she gains every season of the show. (Mind you, the Bravo series, which airs at 10pm on Wednesdays, is on it's 11th season!)
"I love food way too much to starve myself just to look good. I will put in the work at the gym so I can enjoy what I eat," she shares in the November-December issue, adding:
"I follow a clean diet: no meats, no sweets, no alcohol, no cheese, no fried food, no wheat. And I work out five days a week, boxing three days, lifting weights the other two. I carry a jump rope with me everywhere, especially when I'm working. It's a great way to squeeze in a quick work-out and get your heart rate up when you don't have time to go to the gym."
That clean diet doesn't mean she won't indulge in splurges every once in awhile. "Pizza, nachos, cheese, potato chips, fried chicken. I believe in everything in moderation. I never say, 'No, I can't have any of that'," she shares. "I have it and enjoy it! After I finish this photo shoot, I'm going out for pizza, and I'm literally going to take down a whole large pie by myself!"
Although the 43-year-old likes her thin physique, she says she had more success with the male population when she had a curvier body during her pregnancy. "It took 13 months to get the weight off. It was hard. I went from a size 4 to a size 14 when I was pregnant. What's interesting, though, is that, in my experience, men don't want skinny girls. When I was a size 14, I got much more attention from men than I do now."
And when she was dropping those postpregnancy pounds it wasn't at a yoga center or a cycling class. Instead she kept it really simple (not to mention, free!):
"After having a baby, I didn't have time to go to the gym, and I had to be back on TV in less than six weeks. That's how I started doing stairs. Now, whether I'm home or traveling, I climb as many as 70 flights a day, which takes me about 35 minutes. I don't run them. I walk at a steady pace, two steps at a time. It's the perfect workout because pretty much anywhere you go, there are stairs and they're usually empty."