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Carrie Underwood On How She Stays Fit
Category: Carrie Underwood
The latest issue of Self has a little blurb on the cover that clearly says: “Carrie Underwood: How she changed her body”.
Unfortunately it is false advertising… the very short article only briefly goes into Carrie’s eating and workout habits. And they don’t even bring up how she lost the weight! Which is why I didn’t scan the article.
“I try to exercise as much as possible. I work out at home four or five times a week. I do the elliptical in the morning. I do arm weights, but I have the body type that if I do too much, I’ll get big. I play basketball, swim or, when I’m on the road, I walk around and see where I’m at. My healthier habit would be being conscious about what I put in my body. But it’s a good to splurge sometimes! My food indulgences are pizza, and I love chocolate, ice cream and cheese. Not many people know that. I have a big problem controlling myself with the cheese.”
So there you have it, folks… Carrie Underwood’s secrets to staying slim and fit! Although honestly, I can’t help but wonder what else she did to lose the weight. After all, she got extremely thin there for a while…
Source: November 2007 issue of Self
first!
God, I hate when women say that. More or less, Oh, I don’t lift weights too much, I don’t wanna get big. You don’t get jacked overnight, ya know. It usually takes years of hard lifting (something they are not doing) and a very high intake of calories (something they do not do) in order to get big.
I hate how they all make it seem so effortless, and like they’re so blessed that even if they exercise, the benefits are too much!! I’d love to have muscle like Britney circa 2002! These Hollywood bimbos, honestly.
so so stupid.
at least she admited that she exercises, I guess.
unlike some other celebs..”I dont exericse and eat tons of pizza and junk food”.
I don’t like this girl, though.
I heave heard she’s a total bitch and very hard to get along with.
She should be grateful she is where she is.
also, her body is nothing great. She’s thin..her legs are muscular.
healthyisbeautiful, i couldn’t have said it better myself, especially with the Britney statement, totally agree 100%. And Mr Tim Jones, i don’t understand why women say that either, not only would you have to take in a lot of calories but a lot of proteins too. I think a lot of the time women who say that don’t know what they are talking about. (*a lot of the time not all the time) besides that is jus my opinion, everyone has their own!!
yeah she is too skinny and it dropped off pretty fast - i think she doesn’t eat enough but i doubt you’ll hear her making any “confessions” because she wants to appear perfect
I love her, she is beautiful and talented, but at the same time, didn’t she get really tiny at one point? Certainly not from eating pizza, chocolate, and ice cream.
I’m more interested in the electrifying sex article!
Actually, Tim, just to play Devil’s Advocate, some women really do build muscle ridiculously fast. If I even lift 8 pound weights I can gain a significant bulk in my arms in a month or two. It’s kind of scary. I’ve had trainers amazed at how fast I can bulk up with muscle.
I have lifted free weights at a very fast rate every day for the past two weeks after reading that Jessica Biel does that. I have not bulked up and I have actually lost weight. I say this because I am the type of girl who gets ‘bigger’ before she gets smaller. Carrie just needs to hire a trainer to show her how to workout.
I am with Skinny Girl though, I wonder how she dropped the initial weight.
It’s called exercising too intensely and too much, and eating TOO healthy.
She is young and probably has a naturally high metabolism… so insane exercising and eating a “40-year old woman” diet of 1,600 calories is going to cause steady, fairly quick weight loss.
I wouldn’t want to look like her.
She looks fine but she’s only 24, she should look good. Metabolism drops as you get older not at her age. I just would never take anything a young person says too personally because it’s different for everyone.
Tim and Mandy argue that women don’t bulk up when they work out with weights. They’re right, most don’t; most women have “long” muscle attachments and just get long, sleek muscles. “Long” isn’t the right word, exactly, but, for example, women’s calf muscles attach closer to the ankle than men’s: causing muscular men to have bunchy big calves, and musclular women to have sleeker calves. So, I also have to agree with Sophie — some women “bulk up” like men after a very short time doing weight work-outs, because their muscle attachments are more like men’s –they get bulky chunky muscles. So anyway, I looked at some past photos of Carrie U. in dresses, and her calf muscles seem to do exactly that. So maybe she isn’t completly full of crap when she says she doesn’t like to do too much weight work… I can’t believe I took the time to write all this… but people’s bodies are all different… always a good thing to keep in mind, I guess….
Carrie Underwood is a Vegetarian! And she’s been voted twice as Peta’s Sexiest Vegetarian. So there you have it!! That’s her secret!
I sometimes wish I could write copy for these lousy magazines. They totally suck and are not worth buying.
What would count as an acceptable response to the question: How do you maintain your figure?
Almost all celebrities say the same thing: diet and exercise, both in moderation. That’s the kind of response we would expect from a healthy person. But most people around here consistently doubt the truth of such statements. Most people around here accuse slim celebrities of dieting and exercising excessively. Less than slim celebrities don’t diet and exercise enough. Who is not under suspicion for being unhealthy and dishonest?
And if celebrities are so characteristically unhealthy and dishonest, when it comes to taking care of their bodies, why do people continue to expect them to serve as models of physical fitness?
i have to agree with sophie
alot of the girls in my school, especially those in my secondary school and alot of black origin like me, built up muscle definition pretty easily
if i work out intensely within 2-3months it shows on my arms and stomach and i hate it, makes you thighs and shoulders broad/huge
there were quite a few like this when i was in school
though maybe for the majority of women bulding definition isnt easy
ps she calls pizza a treat??? i call that a meal (but has to be thin crust, the tastiest)
I think you raise a good point, Carnap. I am also guilty of doubting the statements the celebrities make about their eating habits without considering the possibility they might be telling the truth.
My reasoning behind that is because far too often they have not been honest about this issue. Calista Flockhart, Lara Flynn Boyle and countless others claimed to have a healthy relationship with food while being very underweight, then years later admitted to have struggled with an ED.
To address the bulking up comments, Of course, some women are more predisposed to gaining muscle mass at a faster rate than most women. But the majority of women, cannot. I highly doubt Carrie Underwood is one of these women considering how small of a frame she has. Also, what women perceive to “big” muscle wise, is probably analogous to how they interpret body fat. A little belly flab is considered chubby or fat, and an extra quarter centimeter on your biceps is considered big.
To adress a new point,
“And if celebrities are so characteristically unhealthy and dishonest, when it comes to taking care of their bodies, why do people continue to expect them to serve as models of physical fitness?”
They are not expected to be models of physical fitness they are expected to be skinny. Why? Because celebrities are supposed to be everything we are not. That is why they are famous; they are “special”.
To be fair, I think celebrities do often lie when they suggest that they say they use only the healthiest route (moderate diet and exercise) to stay slim and beautiful, or when they claim to be “blessed” and not have to work at their bodies at all.
But I sometimes wonder why we would expect them to say anything else. Clearly, if celebrities always went around saying “I crash diet and overexercise when I know I’m going to be photographed, on-stage, on film, etc.,” they are going to be accused of being unhealthy, terrible role models, etc.
As suggested above, people expect celebrities to be something most normal human beings aren’t: effortlessly beautiful (and maybe that means effortlessly skinny). People expect celebrities to be super-humans.
I’m not interested in defending celebrities. Frankly, I think most of them are pretty worthless. I just think it’s kind of irrational to expect anyone to be a super-human, because she’s on television and has a lot of money. Celebrities are present themselves falsely, because the public pays them to present themselves falsely and perpetuate myths about super-humans.
What do we want from them, really?
^^ I agree with Carnap. I know, a lot people say that celebrities get paid to look good, but no matter what, they are human too. And being human means YOU HAVE TO EAT… pure and simple… being human means you are not exempt from gaining or losing weight or even having a bad day. I think we don’t help things any by bashing them for gaining (gasp!) 5 pounds.
And you know what? My little cousins, teenage relatives, etc. pay to go watch these star’s movies or buy their CD… they look up to them…. if celebrities send out the wrong message about their body image, I don’t want my highly impressionable niece to follow suit!
Anyway, Carrie looks great. She’s only 24 so she’s got her youth by her side.
And yeah, you can’t really “bulk” up by lifting too much. If a girl naturally has broad shoulders or muscular calves, or is stocky by nature (think of a gymnast body), they *can* overdue the weights…
I think when we see a celeb go from a relatively “normal” weight to very thin in a short period of time (like Carrie did after Idol), it’s pretty safe to say the weight loss was achieved in a fairly unhealthy manner. They go on crash diets and exercise for three or more hours a day, six days a week, to get to a weight that they or their agents/producers deem acceptable. Once they’re at that low weight, all they have to do is maintain it — and everybody knows that the best way to maintain your weight is to eat well and exercise regularly (three cardio and strength workouts a week). The occasional splurge on pizza, chocolate or ice cream is absolutely do-able when you keep up your regular routine.
So I don’t think celebs are lying when they say they eat what they want and only exercise a few hours a week; I just think they’re lying when they don’t specify that it took a lot more than that to shrink their bodies in the first place…
“What do we want from them, really?”
It’s no secret that many young adults are looking up to “stars” more and more. Perhaps because parents are more absent, leaving them no other alternative other than idolizing and following in the footsteps of celebrities.
We are letting actors, singers and magazines influence us this much and buying into all this. I suppose we aren’t protected enough from consumerism, its tendencies and incessant triggering images.
As for Mrs. Underwood, it looks like the typical Hollywood makeover. We all know the deal… get attention — she had already an amazing vehicle to project her to fame through the insipid Idol — lose weight, do the red carpet rounds and voila.. instant success.
… And who is she ?
Charli, she was the winner of “American Idol” a few seasons ago and is now a very successful Country/Western singer/performer.
I was just reading the first comment.. actually, you can get big muscles almost overnight if you have a certain body type that builds muscle mass easily. I don’t even do weights THAT often, and I have biceps and really big quads. They don’t go away even when I stop doing weights either. The only time they ever left me was when I stopped for six months. I started doing weights when I was 16 and after like two months, I’d put on 15 lbs of muscle mass.
You have to read between the lines when celebs tell you how much they work out: “I work out on the elliptical 4-5 days a week” means that she probably works out for at LEAST 60 minutes (probably more) 5 days a week and possibly 6 days a week. They don’t want to admit how much they really DO exercise because they probably are afraid that they’ll scare off/freak out their fans. Because in reality, who has the time to work out hours a day? And the celebs that are very tiny and actually don’t work out that much probably eat very little (and they cover THAT up by saying…”I eat whatever I want” meaning that what they want is a piece of sugarless gum and a cigarette).
The worst part is that more folks can name the “stars” of television shows than can name the 9 Supreme Court justices, or the heads of state of the largest 5 North American countries. That’s pretty embarrassing.
Having said that, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to look at physically attractive people, or, for me, as a designer, to check out the clothes they are wearing. But I hope most folks balance out this interest in the rest of their lives by paying attention to politics, because the Iraq war is a human rights nightmare.
2 things:
1. Carrie is a vegetarian - I’m surprised she doesn’t mention this. Peta named her one of the world’s sexiest vegetarians - so that alone will help (although, all of that cheese definitely doesn’t)
2. Some women can bulk up, especially athletes or former athletes. I was a competitive swimmer and I try to do more pilates/yoga moves for strength training because when I lift weights my shoulders get very large.
i’m sorry… did kay say “eating too healthily”? people should have enough respect for their bodies to eat ONLY healthily. that’s what keeps us alive! just because she’s not eating trans fats or cake, doesn’t mean she has some sort of unhealthy image of herself.. and, actually, the american dietetics association recommends 60 minutes of cardio a day at least 5 days a week. america is too comfortable being unhealthy.
She sounds very ditzy and perhaps drunk. I thought this was pretty funny, “when I’m on the road, I walk around and see where I’m at.” I guess it is a good idea to know where you are…
She is such and ugly girl… she really does not look very bright either, I mean ending a sentence in ‘at.’ She doesn’t even have the excuse of sloppy internet writing which everybody uses, that was verbal.
I think it’s great that, for once, there is some good conversation about diet and exercise. Not those same old meaningless comments about whose first and who thinks her legs are fantastic.
I believe her, she does cardio 4 times a week in addition to other physical activities. Keep in mind she also goes on tour and performs on stage night after night, and has rehersals…you would be slimmer if you started doing all of that
Hey Sophie, my sister is the same, it’s enough for her to make her bed twice daily and she’ll develop some nice muscles
she hates it, but I, on the other hand, have been doing weights for three years and the effects are minimal…
she is quite talented and it’s nice to see she’s concerned about her body, too. it matters if you want to make it in the business.
yea most women dont bulk up thats for sure…but me on the other hand- my thighs bulk up really easily (as i noticed britney spears in her old days and jessica biel seem too…) but it seems to be more so when i do lots of running etc. not so much when i weight train (they just seem to get harder) but even when i dont exercise there is still so much muscle there but its not as hard…so i guess i just have to live with it and work with it =s guess id rather have harder muscles and more definition than the same size muscle thats softer
so anyway (sorry got sidetracked) my point was i think some body types just have more muscle in general and they don’t actually “bulk up” when weight training but rather the muscles are the same size yet harder and more compact …does that make sense?
But most women’s idea of bulking up muscle wise is analogous to their opinions on fat. Britney Spears no longer has a six pack? Fat, she is fat. I have gained about a quarter centimeter of muscle on my thighs? I’m bulking up, I am getting huge.
Erica, I am not doubting what you are saying, you may have great genes, but 15 pounds of pure muscle mass in 2 months time would mean you gained about 1.9 pounds of muscle per week. I wish I had your genes. Or maybe, it was puberty.
Anyways, 60 minutes doing cardio is one of the plagues of fitness. If you are a marathon runner, ok. If you are the average person who has poor running mechanics, muscular imbalances, have fun destroying your knees. All you really need is 20-30 minutes of interval training and you will burn 4 times as many calories.
there was a LOT of talk of cocaine when she was losing weight.
i think she looks fabulous — healthy i hope, but who ever really knows with the celeb crew. what do you guys think carrie underwoods stats are now? i know she is about 5′3″ and would guess 115lbs, at the very low end of her healthy BMI.
For some reason, everyone here seems to think it’s impossible to eat any food you want and be thin. Just because she eats pizza or chocolate doesn’t means she’s shoving down a whole pie and 2 chocolate bars. She could eat a 200 calorie slice of pizza and a 75 calorie chocolate every night for dnner and not gain any weight - probably even lose weight.
Actually, I think that *many* people here are aware of the caloric values of a piece of pizza and chocolate bar. And that’s what may cause the disbelief.
We must believe that Underwood vigorously controls her food intake throughout the day and that if she touches a piece of piece and chocolate, she will not go overboard and eat an entire pizza, or chocolate bar. Thing is, a lot of people do not know moderation and assume others have issues with handling their portion sizes.
We could go through great lengths trying to explain why it’s so difficult to learn moderation. I’d say the easiest explanation is just the abundance of food and the damn high fructose corn syrup being in everything, causing people to lose their satiety senses.
I don’t doubt that many of the people here could write a book of calorie counts from memory.
Oh right i kinda recordnise her now from American Idol now coming to think of it, but wasnt she always slim …
Victoria– 5′3 and 115 is not the “very low end” of a healthy bmi. I’d say that bmi would be a pretty average (not skinny) healthy weight for a (non-celebrity) person of her age. If she’s really 5′3, which I have no idea about, I’d guess she weighs about 105.
Tim Jones, your comment ‘ good luck ruining your knees’…what does that imply?
I am not a marathon runner…but I run on the treadmill at the gym for fun and weight loss…
besides, the other comments are true about when stars say ‘oh I go on the eliptical for 20 mins and that’s it..” - jessica alba..(ya right! )
Most women do way too much “cardio” and don’t focus enough on strength training. I’d say 9 out of 10 chicks at my gym are on the treadmill or elliptical or bike or whatever for at least an hour and don’t do weights at all.
I hate it when magazines do that. They talk about this great article, and it’s not even what you expect. And BTW I think working out IS easier for celebs because they don’t work as many hours as an average person.
Tim Jones - I have a lot of muscle mass. People often underestimate my weight by about 15-20 lbs.
Jodi, I have noticed that as well. I especially hate when girls lift two pounds dumbells for one set and expect that to do anything. It’s like tim jones said, unless you have freak genetics it takes a lot of effort to gain real muscle mass.
Several posters brought up good points, bleh, Jodi and Tim Jones. I would guess that Carrie is about 105lbs. too, a very normal weight for 5′3″. It is NOT underweight. That was my HEAVY weight when I used to drink. Jodi is very correct pointing out that women often over do the cardio, and don’t do enough strength training. Strength training will give you the muscle tone which really is what is going to shape your body, that plus stretching and toning. Tim is right about the over use of the knees with running as far as most people go. Yes, running can be very enjoyable, but caution that in the process you don’t blow out your knees. Make sure that you have running shoes that are fitted specifically to your foot’s needs, and that you get new ones every 3 to 4 months if you are working out 3-5 times a week. They wear down that fast. Have enough cushioning in the shoes, don’t buy for looks, it’s not worth it. End of my rant!
Isn’t the healthy weight range for 5′3″ 110-140?
yea when i think about it jodi is right…the only way have been able to shirft the extra weight i put on on my holiday was thru weight training…(and some cardio of course) but i put the emphasis on weight training…i didnt “bulk up” just toned up and got “tighter” mucsles
some ppl may geneticallyt have bigger arms or legs but regardless of whether the exercise they will always be ‘bigger’ than how they think they should be…it really has very little to do with weight lifting
by the way…does anyone think she looks a bit like reese witherspoon in her younger days? or is it jst me? =p
Erica~ It depends on the person, really. I’m a bit taller than 5′3″ and I can’t get over 95lbs. if my life depended on it. I’d have to do NOTHING all day, and sit and shovel food in myself, and then I don’t know that it would work. Most of the time I can’t even stay over 90lbs. unless I’m really eating larger meals, it’s just my build and metabolism. I have a petite build. Everyone in my family is light and small boned, my Dad who is 77, 5′8″ weighs 135lbs. My Mom who’s 70 is 5′2 1/2″ is 91lbs. She’s had 3 kids. We’re all lightweights. It’s bone structure and genetics, and of course how you take care of yourself adds in there too, but genetics determines a great deal to start.
Oh yeah, timjones, I have great genetics where muscle is concerned, but not fat, I add both muscle and fat easily… I have a Britney Spears build.. except a little more muscular than her, I think. Maybe sort of like Brooke Hogan although I don’t think I’m THAT massive.
She kinda looks like Reese Witherspoon on the magazine cover.
~deJa~,
there is, in my opinion, a gross misunderstanding about running in the popular fitness world. Quite frankly, non athletes, ie everyone else, should never run to get fit. You need to be fit to run. This is especially true for women. Women have wider hips and a narrower knees, thus giving them a greater Q angle, the angle between the anterior superior iliac spine of the hip, patella or kneecap, and the head of the femur. That alone, is a physiological disadvantage. In addition, most women tend to be quad dominant, further increasing poor running form and the chance of injury. Because of this increased Q angle, women are 6 times more likely to damage the ACL as well as encounter other knee problems. In my opinion, muscular imbalances and weaknesses should be addressed through mobility training, soft tissue work, and weightlifting before an extremely complicated task like running is attempted.
Tim Jones, all that *smart talk* is turnin’ me on!!
Jodi, I hope those asterisks are not being used mockingly.
Not at all, Mr. J.!
Jodi, well thanks.
she kinda looks like reese in that self cover. btw, i like her body!
it is a proven myth that running damages knees or causes arthritis. there’s a great article about it in runner’s world magazine this month, if anyone is interested. as a marathon runner, it infuriates me that people claim that this makes running unhealthy. i think it is an excuse that people use to be lazy. that used to be mine. injuries like this are only typical with those who are overweight.
well fitting shoes do just fine. no need for specially fitted shoes. since when did running become “an extremely complicated task”? our bodies were DESIGNED for it! this is purely science!
Carrie had three nipples but had one removed that left a bad scar. You hear her talking about it at the American Idol audition on youtube. Check it out. Simon asks her about it.
It seems strange that she makes out she’s perfect. I wish celebs would just be real!
Carrie is MUCH TOO THIN
She said she was a size 4, TINEY ENOUGH and went down to a size 2. Have you LOOKED at pants that are a size 2 and tried to get into them? When I was a size 0/2 people thought I was dying and I’m only 5′3″
110 is a great weight for me and then I’m a size 4 or 6, MUCH HEALTHIER looking.
Why do they feel a need to look like a stick?
I think she is telling the truth. If she works out at least 4 times a week and eats healthy. I do not work out at all and i eat junk food like its going out of style. I am 5 8″ and weight 119. If i worked out and ate like her i would be super toned so i believe her.