It may be August, but that doesn't mean it's too late to kick off that New Year's fitness resolution. Need some inspiration? Just take a look at Julianne Hough, who's spilling the secrets of her killer physique in the September issue of Shape.
Oh, and did we mention you can still eat pizza?
"E! News recently posted a picture of me coming out of the gym, and there were all these comments about the photo, like, 'We could have abs like this, but we love pizza too much.' I started laughing because pizza is my favorite food," Julianne tells the fitness mag. "I eat it a lot! I want everyone to know that I'm not Miss Perfect. You can cheat every once in a while, and that's OK. You can still have a fit body as long as you work out regularly and eat relatively healthfully throughout your life."
Don't get too excited: Pizza binges are an exception to Julianne's routine, which she takes pretty seriously. Her weeks are typically filled with five days of hard-core training, from Core Power Yoga on weekdays to long, strenuous hikes on the weekend. When she needs to look her best, she kicks things into overdrive, crediting SoulCycle as her trick to an immediate tone-up.
For Julianne, exercise isn't a chore—especially when it's on the beach in Mexico with girlfriends like Nina Dobrev and Sarah Hyland.
"My friends asked me to teach a class one of the days we were on the trip, and I said, 'One day? I'll do it every day!' So rather than drink tequila shots and get crazy, we turned it into a healthy trip," the star explains. "Every morning, we got up and I taught an hour-long mix of Tracy Anderson, Body by Simone, and yoga moves. Then we'd put on our swimsuits and go to the beach or the pool. Don't get me wrong: We definitely enjoyed cocktails and chips and salsa while we were there, but after our daily workouts we always felt much better about ourselves."
The actress models her own athleisure line in the issue, showing off trendy pieces that can take gym-goers straight from a workout to a lunch date.
"I wanted to make clothes that are cute to work out in and that you can also go about your day in—picking up the kids, going to a meeting, getting groceries, whatever," she says. "The line makes you want to be active."
The line, MPG Collection by Julianne Hough, is another venture for the triple-threat actress, singer and dancer, who's had quite a busy few years. She followed up her long run on Dancing with the Stars with her own lifestyle website, starring roles on film and TV, and an engagement to NHL player Brooks Laich.
Although the star looks as toned as ever, she's happy to admit that her body has changed with age—and that's fine with her.
"When I look at pictures of myself with I was 19, my body was bangin', but I was killing myself. I was working out two and a half hours a day and eating the bare minimum to survive," Julianne says. "I was so miserable. I wasn't healthy. To be honest, I looked like a kid. Now I'm embracing the fact that I'm a woman with curves."
The September issue of Shape is on newsstands Aug. 16.