It’s that magical time of year again, and no I’m not referring to Christmas. It’s time for the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. I’ll be tuning in on CBS December 8th, but this year I won’t be grabbing my stomach and feel bad about my own appearance. I was curious to see how the models live to maintain their hot bodies, so I decided to challenge myself by dieting and training like a Victoria’s Secret model four days in a row. Afterwards I can say I do feel a bit lighter; however, I’ll be going back to my old ways of being semi-healthly when it comes to diet and exercise. Since I’m not getting paid to look good, I don’t feel the need to discipline myself so much. Honestly, I started to get headaches because I wasn’t eating the portions that I’m used to.
More so then ever, I think the women look like athletes in their photos, in the most perfect way. After some online research I hit the grocery store to get ready for the week.
I decided to follow more closely the regimen of the one and only Candice Swanepoel. If she’s not your favorite model, you need to re-evaluate everything. She eats organic veggies and fish, but I’m balling on a budget. I came up with my shopping list after skimming through various sites online, and I read that it’s not hard for Candice to stick to a healthy diet because she’s been eating healthy her entire life. To avoid a mental breakdown I went for healthy foods I enjoy. I also made sure I gave myself options to avoid eating the same foods everyday. Below are all the foods I ate each day. I carried bottled water to my classes and drank water with every meal.
Breakfast: Oatmeal, an egg with toast with side salad, and plain greek yogurt with some honey.
Lunch: Classic grilled chicken salad, salmon and a side veggies, meal replacement smoothie, and soup.
Snacks: Baby carrots, plain greek yogurt, almonds, Snapea Crips, or grapes.
Dinner: Salmon with a side a spinach, tilapia with a side of broccoli, soup, and Zucchini Panacakes with asparagus.
I tried to make sure I always had greens on my plate.
Candice typically trains three days a week, but close to show time she exercises everyday for two weeks. I didn’t hire a personal trainer so I motivated myself. She avoids strenuous cardio like running, and does more weight training and pilates/yoga. I tried to mix it up by doing yoga one day, and lifting weights the next. The exercising was the fun part of this little experiment.
All in all, it wasn’t the worst Monday-Thursday I’ve ever had, and I had a test and multiple quizzes. It just takes discipline and motivation that I don’t have most of the time- and that’s okay! To be clear, I did this for fun, not because it’s the latest quick fad diet. It’s important to remember that the best way to see healthy results is to gradually change your lifestyle choices. Sweets are okay in moderation, trust me one cookie will not make you gain five pounds. Healthy doesn’t always mean thin, and thin doesn’t mean anorexic, most of the time. Love the skin you’re in and don’t put others down because you think it will bring yourself up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think some peppermint bark is calling my name.
Photo credit: VS Image 1, VS Image 2