Hilary Duff, the actress, singer, and mother, has long been admired for her dedication to health and wellness. She has publicly shared her exercise and diet routines, providing insights into how she balances a busy life with staying fit and healthy. This article delves into the details of Hilary Duff's diet and workout, exploring her fitness philosophies, favorite exercises, and approach to nutrition.
Hilary Duff's Fitness Philosophy
Hilary Duff's approach to fitness is rooted in feeling good from the inside out. She emphasizes the importance of activities that make her feel strong, rather than solely focusing on physical appearance. Duff prioritizes balance in her life, ensuring she gets enough sleep, maintains a healthy diet, and spends time with loved ones. She told Marie Claire in 2023, "I really like to be active. I have a lot of energy that I need to burn off or else I’m like, 'Blah!' So I feel better when I’m active." She also told Women's Health Australia in 2022, "(I’m) appreciating my health, doing activities that make me feel strong instead of just bettering the outside of my body, spending time with people that make me feel good and share similar views on health and body positivity and getting enough sleep and balance in my diet."
Morning Workouts
Duff prefers to work out in the morning to get it out of the way early, especially during the hectic holiday season. "It’s nice to get it out of the way and just know you did it," she explains. She often attends morning classes at places like the Tracy Anderson Method and Silver Springs, which offers heated HIIT Pilates classes.
Strength Training
Hilary Duff is a proponent of strength training, particularly for women. She emphasizes its importance for bone health and posture, noting that "Lifting weights, as a woman, is really important. It’s important for your bones. It’s important for us constantly being on our cell phones and our posture." Initially, she avoided weightlifting, fearing she would "bulk up," but her perspective changed over time. "I’m lifting and squatting and using a barbell with lots of weight on it, and I’ve never felt so strong but lean," she told Women's Health in 2019.
At the gym, Duff focuses on a variety of fitness goals, including building strength and endurance, improving mobility and joint health, and increasing muscle mass. Her routine often includes squats, kettlebells, deadlifts, and medicine ball slams. She told Shape magazine in 2016 some of her favorite gym activities were 'squats with heavy weights, kettlebells, deadlifts, and medicine ball slams' - as well as 'hip thrusts.'
Read also: Diet and Workout of Hilary Swank
Weighted Vest Workouts
To challenge herself further, Duff incorporates weighted vests into her cardio workouts, especially when hiking. "I was doing that 12-3-30 workout (on my treadmill), but it was getting really easy for me," she told Women’s Health in 2023. "So then, I started wearing a 12-pound weighted vest, and it got hard again." The "12-3-30" workout is one of the biggest fitness trends of the past few years.
The 12-3-30 Workout
The "12-3-30" workout involves walking on a treadmill at a 12% incline, at 3 miles per hour, for 30 minutes. Hilary Duff jumped on the 12-3-30 bandwagon along with everyone else, but eventually reached a point where the routine became too easy. As you get those steps in, you’re building cardio endurance while strengthening your legs and glutes.
Modifying the 12-3-30 Workout
There are plenty of ways to modify the 12-3-30 to make it both easier and harder. If the 12% slope is too much, bring it down to 6% - or whatever feels more doable - and stick to that. With time, you should be able to slowly build up to the full 12%. To make the regimen more approachable, you can try doing it in intervals where you walk for one minute at 12%, take the incline down flat for the next, and repeat the up-and-down process for the full half hour.
You could copy Duff’s weighted vest hack, or strap on wrist and/or ankle weights for added resistance if you’re down for a challenge. Or, to increase the workout’s intensity, try walking at a faster speed. Whichever route you take, be sure to avoid hanging onto the handrails or the front of the treadmill, as that takes your legs out of the equation. Instead, let your arms pump by your sides with your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. This will put the emphasis back on the big muscles of your lower body while also boosting your cardio.
Social Workouts
Duff enjoys the social aspect of working out and often exercises with friends. "I like grabbing a workout or a hike with a friend," she told Marie Claire in 2023. "For me, it’s a little more social and more motivating to be in a room of people working out instead of constantly doing it by yourself."
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
Heated Workouts
Hilary Duff appreciates heated workouts for their detoxifying effect and the extra sweat they produce. She is particularly fond of taking HIIT Pilates classes in a heated studio. "There’s nothing better than the way (that workout) makes your skin feel," she said. "You feel like you got rid of what you needed to get rid of, and then your skin just feels so nice. I really like that feeling."
Resistance Training
Duff’s personal trainer, Dominic Leeder, emphasizes resistance training to build lean muscle and boost metabolism. They incorporate supersets, combining strength and stability exercises. “We are looking at around 75-85% of her one rep max. So, that’s a weight that you can quite happily do eight to 10 reps with perfect form. After that we would then drop the weight down and do eight reps at a slower rep range. Leeder provided an example superset of eight push-ups followed by a chest press on a stability ball with light weights, using a 4-2-1 count rep range.
Tennis
Hilary Duff enjoys playing tennis with her husband, Matthew Koma, as a way to stay active and connect with each other. “It’s something my husband and I do together, which is really nice. “I’m really loving that escape and little break,” she mentioned to Shape in 2023. “Tennis is a complex game, and it’s hard to think about other things while playing."
Active Family Time
Hilary Duff incorporates activity into her family time, such as swimming and jumping on the trampoline with her kids. “Luca and I swim all the time, and he loves riding his scooter, so I got one too. It’s a bit embarrassing as an adult, but it’s fun with him,” she told People in 2018. “We also jump on the trampoline in the backyard. His favorite game is tag, and he’s so fast.
Hilary Duff's Diet
Macro Counting
When it comes to her diet, Hilary swears by something called macro counting, which means she keeps track of the amount of macronutrients she intakes each day. She has been working with nutrition coach Erik Young since 2019, after she enlisted him to help her prepare for her wedding to Matthew Koma. Macronutrients, or macros for short, are are dietary components that give your body energy, including carbohydrates, proteins, and fats - and according to the actress, limiting the amount that she consumes of all three is one of her secrets to staying so thin.
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“It’s truly helped me stay lean, even while eating bread, chocolate, and wine,” she wrote on Instagram back in 2020. She has been working with nutrition coach Erik Young since 2019, after she enlisted him to help her prepare for her wedding to Matthew Koma.
While speaking to Women's Health in December of that year, the former Disney star explained that Erik creates a customized weekly menu for her - which limits the amount of macros she consumes, but also lets her eat things that she enjoys. “He basically counts your macros for you - and it’s been amazing because it’s basically like a mathematical equation that I just follow, and it’s been really successful for me,” she gushed.
She added that “being more conscious” and cutting out “snacking” helped her “lose 10 pounds” before the nuptials. “I had no idea how much I was eating throughout the day, snacking, [before I met Erik],” she continued. “[But once I started working with him], I lost 10 pounds and I was not starving myself - I was just eating things that I like and being more conscious.
Erik explained to Good Morning America in 2020 that keeping track of the number of carbs, proteins, and fats that Hilary consumes in a day can allow the actress to treat herself to things like sweets or bagels - while still staying in shape. He also said the method has resulted in her having a more healthy relationship with food, versus people who simply “cut out carbs or sugar” altogether.
Importance of Carbs
Leeder told Women's Health Australia that carbs, in particular, are extra important if you're working out regularly. “There’s a common misconception that carbs are bad. Complex carbs are, in my opinion, essential. Without carbs, your body will use other resources for energy, like protein. And with resistance training, we want that protein to go to lean muscle building to boost metabolism.
Mindful Eating
Working with a dieting coach helped Duff realize how much she was mindlessly snacking. “I had no idea how much I was eating throughout the day, snacking,” she told Women’s Health in 2019. She strives to practice mindful eating.
Cooking at Home
Another way the actress stays slim is by eating at home often and learning to make new recipes. By cooking at home, you can know precisely what foods and ingredients are going into your meals. You get to choose the quality of foods you’re eating and stick to Whole Foods as much as possible.
Eating Veggies Daily
The mother of three is mindful of what she consumes and eats veggies daily. Having a variety of veggies is important for staying healthy and losing weight. This is because by having a variety of veggies you are able to get a lot of different vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber in your diet. This is great for supporting your digestive health and allowing for a healthy metabolism which can aid in weight loss. Additionally, all of these nutrients support all other bodily functions and keep you healthy.
Meal Prep
To avoid making impulsive, unhealthy meal choices, Duff told Cosmopolitan she likes to meal prep when she has time. "I try to prepare things over the weekend, like a large batch of quinoa to add to salads," she said in 2016.
Body Image and Self-Acceptance
Hilary Duff has been open about her past struggles with body image and an eating disorder. "When I was 17, I weighed, like, 98 pounds. I was totally obsessed with everything I put in my mouth. I was way too skinny. Not cute. "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.'
She has since developed a healthier relationship with her body, emphasizing self-acceptance and focusing on feeling strong and healthy. Being in the public eye comes with the pressure to maintain a certain appearance. "I don’t pressure myself to be perfect," she told Cosmopolitan in 2016. "After having a child, I’m no longer my top priority. I don’t have as much time to worry about it. Of course, I care about my appearance, and I focus on taking care of myself and maintaining good mental health.
"I’m proud of my body for giving me three children. She also told Shape in 2016, 'I'm short and always going to be a curvier gal, unless I just decide not to eat anymore, which is not a fun (or healthy) option,' she said. 'I'm cool with how I look. I have really strong legs. I'm a mom so I can toss my kid around and go hard with him all day long, and I love that.