Jessica Biel recently appeared on the cover of Glamour UK, and in the interview she discussed what I thought of as her extreme diet. According to Biel, when she’s working (ha), she doesn’t eat any bread, dairy, sugar, salt or meat. She also works out six times a week, doing a combination of running, biking, ballet, and what I think is probably standard weight training, only fancy, just for celebrities. All of this has caused Jessica to lose weight, that’s been no secret. She’s been looking noticeably trimmer all year, even drawn and underweight at times. Anyway, In Touch Weekly is trying to make it into a thing:
Jessica Biel has made her name in Hollywood with her amazing body, but friends are wondering if she’s taking her fitness too far. Jessica, 28, has told pals that she’s prepping to compete in the Nautica Malibu Triathalon in September, and has even been obsessing with training for the event.
Jessica dropped from 130 pounds to 115 in recent months, thanks to six-day-a-week workouts with personal trainer Jason Walsh. She hikes 25 miles and bikes 15-30 miles a week, and she even recently took up ballet lessons.
“Her diet includes occasional six-day liquid fasts, allowing herself just one pig-out day on day seven,” says a friend.
[From In Touch Weekly, print edition]
Over-exercising can be another form of eating/weight disorder, plus, when you’re working out that heavily, it’s not even about weight loss and being toned anymore. If you want real results for your body, you have to spread out your workouts to allow your muscles to rest in-between. As far as Jessica being too thin or whatever… eh. Yes, she looks like she’s lost weight – even her famous booty is looking much smaller these days, which might hurt business (The Business of Being The Next Meryl Streep). But I think Jessica’s body looks fine, very fit and toned. Sure, I wish she wasn’t so neurotic about all of it. But really, what else does she have going on?
Header: Biel on June 7, 2010. Credit: WENN.
i didn’t even read this post b/c i don’t care about shelfy.
has anyone seen ellen dancing on the finale of that dance show!?!? god she is the coolest person on the planet!!!
i <3 her!
ok now i read it & i still don’t care lol i think she looks funny from the back…maybe a weird dress? i dunno.
NEXT!
It’s a man baby
If she’s training for a triathalon, she might lose a bit of weight but muscle weighs more than fat and she was never overweight. The problem I have is with the 6-day liquid fast followed by a pig-out 7th day. Now that is just unhealthy no matter how you look at it.
When I think of unhealthy, I think of tri-athletes. Good grief!
Yawn. Hot Guy Friday, please! 🙂
Biking 15-30 miles per week? When training for a triathlon? Is low. When I’m tri training I bike 15-30 miles a SESSION (2-3/wk), and I manage to do that with a full time job, social life, family life, and other elements of tri training (swim, run). What I’m saying is: 15-30 miles/WEEK is not even close to extreme.
A lot of people work out 6 days a week. If exercise is a big part of your life, that intensity isn’t weird, especially if you mix it up with lots of different types of exercise. So, you know, bite me, In Touch. Stop trying to make regular exercise something weird or negative. It couldn’t hurt that paradigm to shift a little, right?
The diet and exercise regime are both unhealthy. Too much exercise without the rest in between can actually be counter-productive to training, even more so if you’re not eating properly.
I dont care what regime she is following, she needs to lay off the lip filler.
she’s starting to resemble Mr Limpet with that upper lip…ikes!
She is the last person I would call too thin. She’s a female meathead by Hollywood standards.
when she’s working…yeah, that cracked me up, too.
FFS! Muscle does NOT weight more than fat. WHy do people keep saying this rubbish. A pound of muscle weighs exactly teh same as a pound of fat. Muscle is more dense than fat and does not take up as much space- so you can be muscular and weigh as much as someone carrying fat.
“According to Biel, when she’s working (ha), she doesn’t eat any bread, dairy, sugar, salt or meat.”
And what the heck does she eat instead?
I mean, I’m vegetarian and it’s very difficult (actually it is very annoying) to follow a balanced diet, I cannot imagine how tough is not to eat bread, sugar, salt and dairy and still be able to walk without fainting at any moment.
If she was a professional athlete, it will be unhealthy? Of course no. Asian people does workout everyday and eat enviously well, because of this those women have a life expectancy staggering average of 86 years! But the Ocident culture is very different and doesn’t support a health way of life.
she looks fit. she really needs to stop messing with her nose! looks completely jacked up!!!
It’s one thing if she was doing all that exercise and then eating like a pig to make up all those extra calories she lost.
But since she’s also dieting, then no, that’s not healthy at all. Especially if she really is training for a tri.
Thank you, Liz! That’s exactly what I wanted to say. As long as you vary your cardio, which she is doing, you can exercise 6 times a week. I do that myself with a mix of spin (1-2x per week), running (~30 miles/wk), and circuit training, plus standard strength training in general. If you’re training for a race, this amount of exercise is not unusual.
Stop trying to make a big thing out of this! People, even those with “real” jobs (not celebrities) can manage this type of exercise regimen, be healthy, and still have a social life. She’s nice and toned. I don’t know how tall she is, but her weight seems to fall within the healthy range.
the women never are too thin for Hollywood!
I think her nose job is more extreme than her diet/exercise…
I agree artista. Of all the unhealthy celebs out there Jessica aint one of them.
[Edit] I think she looks amazing, and I guess I am [not? thanks @lama, @jojo, @Liz!!!) in the minority when I say her workouts aren’t all that extreme. Everyone here in LA works out like that- not just celebrities. Take a drive to Manhattan Beach and you’ll see gads of normal people paying $5-20 so they can spend an hour running up and down a 100 yard 45% incline grade Sand Dune. For an hour.
By the way- its true that muscle burns more calories than fat, and as for the idea that Muscle “weighs” more than fat- what people really mean is it takes up less bulk. A 135 pound woman with tons of muscle and 12% body fat can wear the same Size 2 that a 110 pound flabby girl can.
As for the diet- I doubt that is going on as extremely as stated,because she couldn’t sustain that level of tone in her muscles without high protein.
she is boring lol who cares.
she only gets work when they want to see her chi chi.
she gotta work out cuz she got nothing else to do lol
@Liz – I am with you. Fat America has been trying for years to bring everyone down with them.
@Liz, +1.
This country would be a lot better off if we attacked those who sat on their butts 6 days a week rather than those who actually get up and move.
I work out hard 6 days per week and have an ‘active’ rest day for the 7th (a lot of walking) and this isn’t unhealthy at all! In fact, everyone should get at least 30 minutes of moderate to high cardio per day.
And I doubt she’d be able to maintain her body on a 6 day liquid diet. I call BS on that one. I can see her eating clean for 6 days and having a cheat day.
Her workout schedule is commom for figure competitors – she looks healthy to me…
I agree with @Liz. On Sunday I biked 40 miles and Tuesday another 40. Tomorrow I will do another 40. I have also run 20 miles this week, will add 7 on Sunday with a swim swim and I have had 2 weight training work outs. The thing is though I eat and I drink about a 6 pack of beer a week. I couldn’t imagine doing all of that without the calories.
Please. I ride >125 miles a week, usually in 3-4 sessions. Her workouts only seem extreme if you don’t workout very hard…
It’s true her nose is the one suffering here not her body and of course, girlfriend needs to stop thinking she is the hottest thing since sliced bread
She has a nice figure. She’s sporty and athletic. Big woop. She doesn’t look emaciated or sickly.
Compare the picture of Jessica Biel’s back to recent pics of Tori Spelling’s back. Enough said
I’m going to venture that the workouts listed above take her no more than 10 hours a week to complete. For someone whose job it is to look fit, that’s not much of an investment is it? That’s only about 2 hours more than I, a lowly wage slave, put in every week & damn skippy, I’d work out more if I had the time. Also, I don’t think 115 is an accurate weight for her, unless she’s doing all cardio & no weight training & lost muscle mass. 130 is more realistic. I’m 5’3″, 124, & a size 2 b/c of my lower than average body fat.
The only problems I have with her workout and eating regime, is that it’s possible she doesn’t eat enough protein and fiber. But since we don’t have access to her daily meal plans, we can’t say for sure.
I also think that she may not be giving her body enough time to recover. Then again, she may be listening to what her body says, and she takes an extra rest day if her body needs it.
I personally am about 50lbs overweight, and I have a workout regime that is slightly less than what she does. I do intense biking 5-6 days a week, for an hour then I do a full body strength workout 3 times a week, with the cycling. BTW – I’ve lost 50lbs from my heaviest weight.
I don’t care for her (although I read an interview with her where she talked about her upbringing – her parents are total hippies a la Winona Ryder!). However, I think her ass is pretty hot.
She used to have an intresting face, because she was not the usual blonde Hollywood style, but she has ruined it with that weird lips.And if she goes on working out this way, when she’ll turn 50 she’ll show very attractive Vadge’s arms.
I applaud her for being honest about how hard she works on her figure. I’ll take that any day over the actresses who pretend they have naturally fast metabolisms and eat what they want and never exercise but secretly puke after every meal.
@phantom goddess Congrats! Keep up the good work 🙂
I think she looks great. I take whatever I read about celebs diets and exercise with a grain of salt. Her reality is probably not as extreme as the interview makes it sound. I occasionally fast for a few days myself, however, and you are not supposed to pig out at the end of the fast. You’re supposed to slowly reintroduce healthy food that is easy to digest.
The article does NOT state that Jessica does the SAME workout six days a week — it merely states that she *works out*. Therein lies the difference. Yes, if you were to lift weights every single day and never let your body rest, you’d be asking for trouble. But virtually every health professional now recommends that the average adult should do at least 30 minutes of cardio a day and 2 or 3 weight training sessions a week for optimum health. So in other words, Jessica does some kind of cardio everyday, and weight-trains a couple of times a week. AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. Nor is it impossible for even us regular folk to manage. If you’re serious about your health, you’ll fit exercise in — end of story. I have two kids, a job, and I’m a part-time student, and I work out at least five times a week for about an hour. And I don’t have any help, by the way (meaning a nanny, cook, or house cleaner). I just don’t want to be a decrepit, crumbling old woman when I’m 70!
@ DetRiotgirl
Thanks :). I was just proving a point that you shouldn’t judge someone by their weight. 99% of the people I meet don’t believe I workout the way I do, because I am still heavier than what someone who works out “should be”
Someone can look at me and all they will see is someone they believe sits on their fat @ss and eats fried food everyday. Which is not true.
I only do that once a week 😉
She may look great but I would have lost my WILL TO LIVE if I cut out sugar, salt, dairy and meat!
oh and BREAD–not bread. I guess that only leaves water?
Oh for heaven’s sake. Lots of people work out 7 days a week. They just alternate what they do, so as to rest certain muscle groups. Some don’t even do that – they run every day (for example). But humans are natural runners, and if you work up to it, your body adjusts just fine, and you rebuild muscle in between work outs and by varying your intensity and distance.
When I was a triathlete I did something every day. I usually biked 60 miles a week, ran 40 and swam 5 days for an hour. Ahhh…the wonderful days before I had my child. 😉 Of course some days I just napped and drank lots of beer – carbohydrate loading you know.
Clearly, she is training the way an athlete trains, and I would not classify her fitness level as too much.
As long as she eats the proper amount of food to support a high level of fitness she’ll be fine.
I am not a big fan of fasts, and I am not a big fan of “pig-out” days… I believe these foster some unhealthy views on food.
Food is neither reward nor punishment; it is nourishment and life-giving and should be treated as such.
She’s fighting her genetic predisposition to turn into a pear – her body shape would be more noticeable if she didn’t have broad shoulders as well. I think it’s commendable and sets a good example for similarly shaped American girls. I think Mena Suvari has a cute heinie. Jessica Biel’s looks kind of solid and unsoft but the nonexercised alternative would NOT be a welcome sight so thank you, Jessica Biel, thank you for exercising. If you’re going to be paid to be pretty, then yes, you should definitely reach your maximum potential of pretty.
#31, way to go – good for you!
I wish I could give up sugar. Dieting sucks. I like exercising, but I hate dieting.
I just had a McDonald’s mocha frappe…and now I am happy!
I exercise, because it helps me relax & sleep. Exercise almost every day, I am a size 2-4, but I do it mostly because I am terrified of getting breast cancer like my mom. Plus I eat better now too..but cutting out sugar..that is insane. I agree there are too many obese people roaming around..so unhealthy & draining the health care system..high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. Being healthy should be the #1 goal of every human being.
actually @solveig if you are a vegan what she’s doing is not unusual. salt, sugar and meat if you want to eat right these are good things to lose. Bread? Meh… I would hate to lose it but its not unhealthy. Portion size counts alot too. Maybe she’s heavy on the exercise
Rose- I always thought that was true. Kind of like that quesiton, “Which weighs more a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?”
I don’t see anything wrong with her workouts. She probably switches it up a lot. Her diet makes me a little nervous. Maybe she doesn’t work out as much when she is filming? I’m not a nutrionist, but I assumed with workouts like those she would need plenty of protein and some carbs.
I think she is one of those women that looks better with a little more weight on her. It softens her and makes her look less manly.
6 days a week is okay. Most gym junkies do that. Some workout everday. It’s fine as long as you don’t work the same muscles everyday. Chest and arms one day and then legs, shoulders and back the next. Or whatever combo you prefer.
@mauweebound, what I find unusual is a person who allegedly works out 6 days a week and not eating bread (and probably no carbohydrates at all). What do her muscles burn?
I need to be on the Biel diet… This Swiss food consisting mostly of cheese and bread is getting to me… i think I may be getting my first cold in 5 years… 🙁
btw, why are people always declaring their size? :-/
@Rose,
you just said the exact same thing everyone else does. Of course a pound of fat and a pound of muscle weigh the same. What people mean by saying muscle weighs more is that if you compare two women of the same size, one with very low body fat and one with very high, the woman with low body fat would weigh substantially more. For example, a pound of fat would be much larger than a pound of muscle.
you can look up on the internet HIIT training explanation for to build definition and a regular weight lifting schedule like seperate the muscels into certain days so you dont hurt yourself by overtraning thats what i found works best but i’m just 13