Karlie Kloss is more than just a supermodel; she's a successful entrepreneur, a student, and an advocate for women in STEM. Alongside Brandon Maxwell and Christian Siriano, she co-hosts Project Runway. Kloss maintains her figure through discipline, combining an intense workout schedule with a balanced diet.
Early Diet and Transformation
When Karlie Kloss started modeling at a young age, she admits she didn't know much about nutrition. At 17, Vogue Paris recognized her as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s. Initially, she ate Snickers bars for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, relying on a fast metabolism. However, as her body matured, she adjusted her diet to include more balanced and healthy ingredients.
The Importance of Breakfast
Breakfast is Kloss' favorite meal. She enjoys sweet options like cereals, yogurts, pancakes, and crepes. Even when rushed, she grabs a hot beverage from Mojo Coffee, a coffee shop near her home in the West Village.
When dining out, Kloss frequents The Butcher's Daughter in Manhattan, where she enjoys the AB & J (almond butter, bananas, and honey on grain bread) or smashed avocado toast. While traveling, she enjoys trying breakfast at different locations, such as a chocolate croissant from Angelina's in Paris.
On busy days, Kloss makes morning shakes packed with nutrients, acting like a "mad scientist" with various ingredients. She also occasionally opts for a flatbread with hummus, veggies, and avocados, as seen on her Instagram.
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Snacking Habits and Entrepreneurial Ventures
Karlie Kloss isn't shy about snacking. While she initially envisioned a career in science or business, she invested in her own company after becoming a successful model. She bought a KitchenAid and started Karlie's Kookies, a vegan and gluten-free cookie line.
Transition to Clean Eating
Kloss transitioned from a junk food diet rooted in her Midwestern upbringing to "clean eating." She replaced Goldfish and Oreos with kale salads and avocado toast, which she says changed her energy. As a vegetarian, she avoids meat and focuses on getting enough protein from other sources.
When she needs to stay calm, Kloss enjoys fresh papaya with sea salt and lime, or watermelon. For comfort food, she turns to her mother's pumpkin loaf.
Managing Sweet Cravings
Despite being a self-professed sugar devotee, Kloss eats sugar in moderation. She satisfies her sweet tooth with a smoothie made with vegan chocolate protein, almond butter, and Moon Juice products. For indulgences, she enjoys dark chocolate. She jokes that every day she goes to SoulCycle is a cheat day.
Body Image and Self-Compassion
Karlie Kloss had to learn to love her body. She felt like an outsider because she was freakishly tall when she was younger. She shifted her mindset from wanting to be skinny to focusing on health.
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Vanessa Packer and ModelFIT
Karlie Kloss works with Vanessa Packer, founder of modelFIT, to maintain her fitness. Packer emphasizes that being active nurtures the body from the inside out, promoting a mindful, holistic approach to life. She suggests taking small steps towards a healthier lifestyle and making sustainable changes.
Packer recommends ankle weights for low-impact workouts and emphasizes the importance of staying hydrated with water and coconut water. She suggests starting the day with warm water with lemon and eating green juices, smoothies, acai bowls, or fresh fruit for breakfast. She also recommends raw salads and simply prepared fish or grain bowls with veggies for lunch and dinner.
Stretching is also a crucial part of Packer's fitness philosophy, both before and after workouts. She recommends using natural beauty products with organic ingredients, avoiding synthetics and chemicals.
Molly Rieger's Nutrition Tips
Molly Rieger, a nutritionist for Victoria's Secret models, emphasizes maintaining stable energy levels throughout the day. She recommends drinking warm water with lemon, apple cider vinegar, and ginger in the morning to wake up the digestive system and help the liver detoxify. She suggests relying on meals that combine protein and fiber for sustained energy, avoiding simple carbs that cause energy roller coasters.
Rieger stresses the importance of drinking at least 3 liters of water a day to avoid lethargy, fatigue, and sugar cravings. She limits herself to one coffee per day and opts for green tea or matcha in the afternoon for a pick-me-up. When feeling sluggish, she recommends taking a 5-10 minute walk to get the blood moving and drinking a cup of water.
Read also: Weight Loss with Low-FODMAP
Rieger also practices a "morning activation" meditation to energize herself for the day. She loves hot chocolate as a warm drink option.
Post-Pregnancy Transformation
After having children, Karlie Kloss focused on self-compassion and efficient workouts. She shifted her focus to being strong both physically and mentally, rather than just being skinny.
After giving birth to her second son, Levi, she revealed that her fitness routine had evolved, becoming more about “self-compassion” than achieving an ideal body. She shared, “It wasn’t easy, but I had to learn to be kinder to myself."
Weight Gain and Career Impact
Kloss gained weight after starting birth control, going from a size 0 to a size 4-6 in one year. This affected her career, as she shared with Vogue: “I went from a size 0 to a size 4-6, and suddenly, I wasn’t the girl that everyone wanted to book."
Diet and Workout Routine
Karlie Kloss keeps her diet simple, fresh, and clean, emphasizing whole, unprocessed foods. She typically starts her day with an egg white omelet with avocado and tabasco sauce, paired with a coffee with almond milk. She focuses on balance, moderation, and listening to her body's needs.
Her workout routine includes quick, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions and Pilates. She fits in workouts whenever possible, even if it's not always a full hour at the gym.
Mental Health and Self-Compassion
Karlie Kloss emphasizes mental health, shifting her focus to self-compassion after becoming a mother. She embraces the idea that it's about being strong, both physically and mentally, rather than just being skinny.
Shifting Lifestyle Habits
Karlie Kloss has been shifting her lifestyle, one habit at a time. She now incorporates resistance training to stay strong and lean and build muscle. She prioritizes three nutritious, filling meals a day.
Daily Routine
Karlie is trying to instill healthy habits with her sons from a young age, so she makes sure to start her day off right. The family's favorite breakfasts include oatmeal with berries and pancakes made from banana, oats, almond flour, and chia seeds. If she's running out the door, Karlie will grab a chocolate shake made with Thorne whey protein.
Karlie typically eats the same lunches and dinners. She's a big fan of salmon-either grilled or with a ginger-soy marinade. She also loves to munch on eggs or Greek yogurt to get her proper dose of daily protein.
When it comes to indulgences, Karlie says she has a "total sweet tooth." Any kind of cookie-but especially chocolate chip-are her favorites.
In addition to fueling her body with lots of protein, Karlie prioritizes getting proper nutrients-even if it doesn't come from her diet. She's a big fan of Thorne's Memoractiv supplement to combat "mom brain fog," plus the brand's Basic B Complex to promote cellular energy.
In addition to her daily regimen, Karlie likes to take a minute for herself, whether that's doing a quick meditation in the taxi on the way to work, doing a dance class at the New York City studio Forward__Space, or popping in her headphones for a brief run.
Fitness Tips
Karlie Kloss has been an advocate of fitness and healthy living. She tries to workout four to five times a week and prefers to mix up her daily sessions with new training classes or techniques. She likes to stay on her toes, be it running around Paris's Louvre museum or in the streets of New York.
She recommends running wherever you are to improve cardiovascular health, build muscle strength, help maintain a healthy weight and give you a happy facial glow. Pregnancy workouts can be helpful to promote a healthy weight gain, reduce back pain and may ease the labour process. Try 10 minute HIIT workouts. Add meditation to your routine to calm the nerves and clear the mind, reducing stress and anxiety levels. Find your motivation and treat yourself to cake occasionally because balance is everything when it comes to staying healthy.
Diet Changes and Preferences
Karlie’s diet has changed throughout her career. She sticks to fresh and simple foods with clean ingredients and is primarily a pescatarian, staying away from dairy ingredients whenever possible. She gets protein from other sources like eggs, nuts and nut butters. She prepares salmon fillets and cauliflower soup.
She still has the same sweet tooth and satisfies it by indulging in a bit of dark chocolate each day. Karlie also made sure to have plenty of healthy snacks in her dressing room to help boost her diet.
Workout Routine
Karlie is a runner and supplements her diet with nutrient-dense post-workout snacks. She enjoys getting out and being active whenever she can. Much of her exercises involve bodyweight routines, striving to be strong rather than doing everything she can to slim down. Karlie loves to work out without the use of weights and gym equipment.
Her biggest piece of advice for people looking to get active and improve their fitness is to work out with a friend or a personal trainer.
Postpartum Fitness
Karlie Kloss’s workout and diet routines are tailored to her unique needs. She believes that her modelling jobs are easier and more fun when she feels beautiful and healthy. She had a conversation with herself a while ago because she wants to be in shape but she also has more self-compassion, because her body created life. She eats what she wants, but she tries and listen to her body, even though that’s changed. For her workouts, Kloss said that “everything changes after kids.” She likes to work out with light weights and do bodyweight exercises. She found her posture got so bad after being pregnant for nine months. She also works out first thing in the morning - right after she checks her sleep data. Kloss has been singing the praises of good sleep for years.
ModelFIT Studio and Philosophy
Gelband, whose modelFIT studio is based in New York City, caters to an exclusive clientele list that includes Taylor Swift and Victoria's Secret Angels Candice Swanepoel and Karlie Kloss. Gelband's diet philosophy is that there is no diet. Carbs are actually very important for you. She suggests that people eat Ezekiel bread, steel cut oatmeal and certain rices in small portions so that your body can properly digest it. You need to have carbs to survive.
Her training sessions vary every day and are always changing. If someone comes to her and they're exhausted, she may do more yoga and Pilates. If someone comes in ready to take on the world she will allot more to boxing or hardcore exercises. If someone is looking for a lean physique, she uses more bands, balls and lightweights.
She supports the three M's: Movement, motion and moderation. You're going to need to do things in moderation, especially with food. You have to motivate through the mind and through the body, and understand the more motivated you are, the more disciplined you are. You also have to move every day, whether it's walking, cycling, biking, hiking, or swimming-it doesn't matter. Movement doesn't mean you have to go to the gym. And it's always better that you do something rather than nothing.
Her method is based on individualizing a program per person per class. So what she does is a break down who you are, how you move and what you do on a daily basis-along with what injuries you might have, your health conditions, lifestyle and your past exercise fitness regiments.