Miss Indiana Mekayla Diehl Says Jennifer Lawrence Is Her Body Image Role Model

She also shares her diet and fitness plan

By Holly Passalaqua, Cinya Burton Jun 17, 2014 10:36 PMTags
Mekayla Diehl, Jennifer LawrenceDarren Decker/Miss Universe Organization, Splash News

Miss Indiana USA Mekayla Diehl became a body image role model literally overnight when her "normal" size 4 figure became a trending top on Twitter. But who does she look up to, personally? Everyone's favorite living-GIF Jennifer Lawrence.

"I love her. My favorite thing about her is she is herself no matter what. She is comfortable in her own skin and doesn't change herself for the industry. I love that about her. She just brushes things off. She looks really healthy. She's an all around healthy person," Mekayla told E! News.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Indeed the Oscar-winner has continuously spoken out about Hollywood's unrealistic body standards. "I just think it should be illegal to call somebody fat on TV," she told Barbara Walters last year. "Because why is humiliating people funny."

J.Law also famously refused to diet for film roles.  I'm never going to starve myself for a part ... I don't want little girls to be like, 'Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I'm going to skip dinner.' That's something I was really conscious of during training, when you're trying to get your body to look exactly right. I was trying to get my body to look fit and strong – not thin and underfed," She told Elle magazine in 2012.

Darren Decker/Miss Universe Organization

The Hunger Games star has also proudly admitted she eats what she wants and isn't a fan of working out. But that's one thing J.Law and Mekayla don't see eye-to-eye on. Diehl is a huge fitness buff and purposefully upped her gym time before the 2014 Miss USA pageant so she would be curvier.

"My plan was to just keep training after Miss Indiana USA. We definitely wanted to create more curves through muscle definition, for sure. I worked with two trainers and a customized workout program. I did a boot camp style training. I also did high intensive interval training and Pilates. I had a customized workout program from fullonfit.com. Three months prior to the pageant I worked out 5 days a week and about a month and a half before I bumped it up to seven days. The workouts ranged from an hour to two hours a day," she explains. "I gained a lot of weight from Miss Indiana USA to Miss USA! I trained harder and I gained a lot of muscle. I bulked up!"

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