HealthLike many stars in Hollywood, Hilary Duff maintains a well-balanced diet and works hard to stay in shape, although she admits in the latest issue of Health magazine that she hasn't always had a healthy body image.
Confessing that her biggest health regret is "constantly worrying that my body is not good enough," the mother of 2-year-old Luca says it was tough to lose the baby weight in our skinny-obsessed society.
"The second I had Luca, I went to go get my hair blown out at the salon, and I hadn't stepped outside in, like, 15 days," Duff, who is currently prepping for the release of her first album in seven years, tells the mag. "I was learning how to be a new mom, and I needed to go get my hair done. Then they're like, 'Hilary Debuts Her Post-Baby Body!' I was like, I'm not debuting s--t right now. I'm just going on an errand run! There is way too much pressure on women these days. It took me a whole 10 months to build a baby."
While Duff shed the pregnancy pounds in a sensible time frame (at least, by Hollywood standards), the mother of one says she was constantly working out in order to drop the baby weight.
"I lost my baby weight from boxing, and I have this awesome trainer, Gabe. I was already there, but I definitely shed, like, 10 more pounds from doing two-a-days for two or three weeks, an hour each session," she reveals. "I live in a cul-de-sac, but I have a big hill, so I would run the hill, then box in my cul-de-sac."
Still, despite her hard work and her killer post-baby bod, Mike Comrie's ex admits the tabloid pressure was a tough pill to swallow.
"Oh my God, everyone was so hard on me because it took me a year and a half to get my body back! When I was 17, I weighed, like, 98 pounds," she confessed. "I was totally obsessed with everything I put in my mouth. I was way too skinny. Not cute. And my body wasn't that healthy—my hands would cramp up a lot because I wasn't getting the nutrition I needed. That constant pressure of wanting something different than I had? I regret that."
Thankfully Duff, who also tells the mag she was trained by the "Disney mouse," has come to terms with her figure, although like many women, she still struggles with those pesky five pounds.
"I feel like there was way too much time spent thinking about that," she says. "This is the body that I have. I have a very athletic build, and I am so proud of what my body has done for me. I had the best, healthiest, strongest pregnancy. And I feel good about myself. But I feel like I'm always in a 5-pound battle, because being 5 feet 2, everything is going to show on me!"