Chrissy Teigen, the celebrated model, TV personality, and cookbook author, has consistently remained in the public eye, not just for her professional achievements but also for her candidness about her personal life, including her fitness journey. Her approach to diet and exercise has evolved significantly over the years, reflecting a healthier and more balanced relationship with food and her body. This article delves into Chrissy Teigen's fitness routine, her evolving relationship with food, and the various strategies she employs to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Finding Balance: Chrissy Teigen's Current Approach
At 38, Chrissy Teigen balances a busy life with her husband, John Legend, and their four children while juggling work commitments, including posing for the 2024 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Despite her demanding schedule, Teigen prioritizes exercise and healthy eating, always striving for balance.
Teigen, who recently partnered with Metro by T-Mobile, emphasizes the importance of finding time for oneself. She manages to squeeze in workouts two or three times a week, considering even one workout a week a victory. Her active lifestyle is also naturally enhanced by her children, who keep her moving. Whether it's spending time at the pool with her kids, attending baseball games with her son, being a Girl Scouts mom, or going on hikes, Teigen integrates physical activity into her daily life.
The Importance of Social Workouts
Teigen's preferred workout is pilates, particularly reformer pilates, a low-impact, full-body workout that uses a special machine to focus on repeated movements. What makes this exercise even more enjoyable for her is that she does it with her friends. She says, "We have a standing appointment in Los Angeles, so I go with all my girlfriends in the morning." The camaraderie and shared experience enhance her motivation and enjoyment of the workout.
"I love Pilates because I feel long, I feel like I can really target the muscles that I need," says Teigen. Besides pilates, Teigen also practices yoga. "I’ve never been like the very bootcamp-type of girl or into all the hardcore stuff,” she adds.
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A Balanced Relationship with Food
Chrissy Teigen is known for her love of food, having published three cookbooks, including the best-selling "Cravings" in 2016. She admits to being "very cravings-based," emphasizing the importance of satisfying her specific flavor desires. During an interview, she even paused to order spaghetti and meatballs for lunch.
However, Teigen's eating habits have transformed over the years. She focuses on eating whole, fresh foods and cooking at home. Teigen says, "My body has changed since I’ve made the first cookbook and the kind of things and food that makes my body feel good are different.” While she still indulges in her cravings, she aims to maintain a good balance, especially when a big event is coming up.
Teigen reflects on the impact of early 2000s diet culture on her childhood, noting that she grew up in a household where dieting was frequently discussed. "When I was growing up the Atkin's diet was huge, so my dad was always jumping on that and my mom was always using some crazy workout machine," says Teigen. "Food was always talked about and dieting was always talked about." Over the years, she has relearned to love eating and now encourages her children to have a healthy, balanced relationship with food. "Now that I have kids, we try to make sure that food is not talked about in a negative way. It's a positive, fun thing and you get to indulge sometimes," says Teigen. She balances fresh, clean ingredients with the enjoyment of life.
Teigen's Weight Loss Journey: Insights and Strategies
Chrissy Teigen's weight loss journey has garnered significant attention, with fans noticing a considerable change in her appearance. She has embraced a healthy lifestyle without strict diets, achieving weight loss through regular physical activity and a stress-free approach to life. Her decision to quit drinking may have also played a role in her transformation.
Diet Plan
Chrissy Teigen's diet plan is characterized by flexibility and mindfulness.
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Avoids Sugar in the Morning: She prefers cooked meals like eggs for breakfast instead of sugary pastries. While she occasionally indulges in boozy French toast, she generally avoids high amounts of added sugars, opting for low-glycemic foods like fruits, veggies, beans, and peas.
Spicy & Healthy Lunch: Her lunch, often around 3 pm, includes dishes like coconut-chicken curry, avocado toast with chili flakes, or recipes from her cookbook. She enjoys spicy foods and healthy cravings like tangerine, blood orange, and grapefruit salad.
Avoids Light Dinners: Chrissy avoids snacking in between meals, instead waiting until the end of the day for her heaviest meal. She avoids salads for dinner, opting for dishes like Cajun salmon with spinach or fresh tomato basil soup with baked fish. She isn't a big fan of desserts.
Sobriety: Chrissy's sobriety has likely impacted her weight. Alcohol intake can contribute to weight gain and a bloated appearance. She openly shared her commitment to sobriety on Instagram in late 2020.
Workout Routine
Chrissy Teigen stays active through various physical activities. She enjoys playing with her kids, going to the park, and visiting the aquarium.
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Cardio: While she admits she's not a fan of traditional cardio, she understands its importance. She incorporates cardio exercises into her routine by finding creative ways to make it more enjoyable, such as reenacting Cher's iconic 90s-era workout videos. For more serious cardio, she works with her trainer Simone De La Rue, who guides her through full-body workouts that include cardio, leg exercises, and butt workouts.
Strength Training with Bands: Chrissy focuses on strength training to build lean muscle, preferring resistance bands and bodyweight exercises over traditional weightlifting.
EMS Training: She incorporates electric muscle stimulation (EMS) training into her workouts for a quick and efficient calorie burn. EMS involves using a machine that sends electrical signals to the muscles, causing them to contract more intensively. This allows her to burn hundreds of calories in just a 20-minute session and is effective in improving muscle mass, strength, and endurance.
Plastic Surgeries
Chrissy Teigen has been open about undergoing various plastic surgeries:
- Breast implant surgery: She had breast implant surgery during her early modeling days and later had them removed in 2020.
- Buccal fat removal: She underwent a buccal fat removal procedure to remove fat pads from her cheeks, thinning down her face.
- Liposuction: She playfully mentioned having armpit liposuction in a tweet.
Breaking Up with Diet Culture
Chrissy Teigen has publicly declared her decision to break up with diet culture. After years of "ups and downs," she has decided that life is too short to give up the food she loves. She prioritizes her mental and spiritual well-being over strict adherence to diet plans.
"I’ve thrown all of that out of the window," she told People in 2021. "I think now at this point in my life it’s more important for me to enjoy things as they come." She eats what she wants, when she wants, because depriving herself leads to mental distress.
This shift in mindset was likely influenced by the loss of her third son, Jack, in November 2020, which put things into perspective. She now focuses on spending time with her children, engaging in activities like playing, going to the park, and visiting the aquarium.
Early Career and Transformation
During her early modeling days, Chrissy Teigen's appearance was different. She regularly used bronzer to achieve a darker complexion, aiming for a popular model look with voluminous hair, caramel highlights, and subtle makeup. Over time, her style has evolved, and she has become more comfortable in her natural skin tone.
She has also confirmed getting an eyebrow transplant, which allows her to go out without makeup. Her weight loss transformation, combined with surgery, diet, and exercise, has resulted in a distinct and captivating beauty.