Shape reports on Vanessa Minnillo‘s diet and workout: Tailor your workouts to your life
Vanessa’s favorite way to stay fit is by playing sports and running, something she took up when she was preparing for the Miss Teen USA pageant.
“I wanted to join a gym, but my father said, ‘A 17-year-old doesn’t need a gym membership-just go out and run!’
And he was right,” she says. Later, when her career took off, she found it difficult to fit regular runs into her schedule and stopped exercising almost entirely. To get back into working out, Vanessa had to come up with a plan B.
“I didn’t consider myself a gym girl, but I realized that at this point in my life belonging to a gym made sense,” she says. Vanessa now exercises for 60 to 90 minutes most days, combining 30- to 40-minute aerobic workouts with weight training.
She also loves to a take a group class called Body Blast twice a week. “Our teacher is amazing,” she says. “She’s taught me so many things, like how to be more time-efficient by combining upper-and lower-body moves.”
Several times a week Vanessa gets a little extra incentive: She brings her boyfriend [Nick Lachey] to the gym. “It’s so much more fun when he’s there,” she says.
“I don’t spot him, and he doesn’t watch me do lunges-but knowing he’s there makes me feel good. We encourage and motivate each other.”
Make smart swaps in your diet
Growing up, Vanessa played basketball and did cheer-leading, so she was able to get away with downing a lot of food. “I could easily eat nine tacos in one sitting,” she says. “My dad used to say I ate like a truck driver.”
Once her activity level dropped, though, those eating habits began to zap her energy. “I’d stuff myself silly out of habit right before doing live TV, and then I’d feel totally lethargic on the air,” she explains.
To counteract that, she’d grab a calorie-packed mocha frappuccino every afternoon for a caffeine jolt before the show.
Changing her eating pattern was part two of her stress makeover. “Today my diet is all about moderation,” she explains.
Vanessa eats four smaller meals a day, and she makes swaps like having brown rice instead of white in her sushi and burritos, grilled rather than fried chicken on her salads, and most notably, a light frappuccino in place of the regular version.
“I’m addicted to Starbucks’ new Mocha Frappuccino Light,” she says. “It’s lowfat and has half the sugar. I still take it with an extra shot of espresso, but that doesn’t have many calories!”