Vanessa Hudgens, 30, is known for being fit in a healthy way. From what I remember she’s been around the same size for years and she’s into fitness. So it’s a little surprising to hear that she is on the same faddish diets that other celebrities follow, in this case two of them. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by anything celebrities do though. She’s not saying that her diets work for everyone or that they’re the best though, she’s just saying they work for her, which is an important distinction. Apparently she alternates between only eating whatever she wants for six hours of the day, between noon and six, and eating keto, the moderate protein, low carb high fat diet. Plus she usually works out twice a day!
“I’ve been intermittent fasting a lot, because for me, I love pasta, I love pizza, and when I’m not eating carbs I feel like a little piece of me dies,” Hudgens, 30, tells PEOPLE with a laugh. “Intermittent fasting is great, because when I am fasting — those first two weeks are definitely rough, I’m not going to lie, but after that I feel more grounded and powerful in my workouts. And I get the nutrients that I need when I eat, but then I also eat what I want.”
Hudgens says she eats for six hours — between noon and 6 p.m. — and fasts for the other 18.
“I feel like it’s a recipe that works for me,” she says. “Everyone’s different of course, but for me, that’s what’s been the most beneficial so far.”
Sticking to that six-hour eating window is tough, though, for Hudgens to maintain when she’s filming. So the RENT Live star goes “back and forth” between intermittent fasting and another trendy diet: keto.
“It’s great,” she says. “If you have the right ingredients to keep you on track, I think it’s amazing. People a lot of times think of fats in diets as a negative thing, and when you’re doing keto it’s a very positive thing. I’m always making sure I’m getting those healthy fats in, so I eat a LOT of almond butter. You feel really energetic and supported on the keto diet.”
“I feel like I’ve kind of found a recipe for my body that works,” she says. “It’s SoulCycle for cardio, to keep my heart healthy. It’s Pilates for lengthening, leaning and toning. And yoga for my mental health.”
Hudgens will work out six days a week, but she often doubles up on classes each day — on Thursday she took a Pilates class and then headed to SoulCycle. The actress jokes that she’s “basically always working out,”
Honestly I worked out twice a day up until a couple of years ago. I love working out and I thought more was better. I had to eat 2,000 calories or more a day not to lose too much weight. Eating more is easy but it did get a little stressful. Now I work out once a day and try not to beat myself up. I’m recovering from a medical procedure and just gradually trying to work out again in a way that works for me.
This diet sounds so extreme though and I’ve never heard of a celebrity alternating between two popular diets. Is she really doing keto if she goes back to eating carbs whenever she wants and how does that work? Does she do it on a particular schedule or just when she wants to? Again she’s not saying she’s got everything figured out or that everyone should do it her way. It doesn’t even sound like she knows what she should do. It does sound punishing though, like she chooses the way she’s going to deprive herself. I count calories though and a lot of people hate doing that, so I can’t judge.
Oh and she’s promoting her new athletic wear collection with Avia!
Photos credit: WENN and via Instagram
Keto isn’t really extreme, when you eat protein/fat your body can be satisfied longer and you can eat less. Intermittent fasting is great b/c you learn true hunger vs. eating out of boredom, emotions, etc. Diff strokes for diff folks though. Keto and IF can do wonders for mental health as well. I wish people knew more about it and didn’t think it was just a ‘fad diet’.
Well said!
I hate these faddy trend diets. I’m losing Weight with a simple, balanced, 1500 calorie a day diet and walking, plus 4 days a week 30 minute circuit training. 27 pounds down since Christmas, and lowered my blood sugar to acceptable level ( I was diagnosed diabetic). Not fast, but effective, sustainable, and I can eat my fav grilled chicken tacos. And I’m below 200lbs for the firs time in 5 years!
Congrats to you Rapunzel! That’s great!
How tall are you out of curiosity? I get so many people telling me 1500 calories is too little for maintenance, then I have to explain I’m 4’10” and base metabolic rate+daily activity=maintenance. For loss you should have a 500 calorie deficit a day.
Explaining calories are based on height and weight and are significantly lower for women gets exhausting. Lots of people would be shocked to know how little they actually should be eating and how misleading that ‘2000 calorie diet’ basis printed on every food label is, especially for women.
Sorry about the rant, I’m proud of you managing your health and proving its achievable
Wow- I am 5 ft ish, maybe 4″11 1/2. I am doing Curves Complete. Working out on the Curves circuit, and following their meal plan (recipes and to go suggestions, not bought frozen food). My Dr. specifically says fasting is bad for diabetics, and that I should eat something every 3-4ish hours. I like the Curves system cause I meet weekly with a certified trainer/nutritionist, who checks my food log and helps with suggestions. It’s been great and holds me accountable. Plus, I love the all woman’s gym.
I love intermittent fasting, in that yeah, I can eat what I want (within reason) for six hours, and ignore food for the rest of the time. I know nowt about keto.
I think it can individual. In my fitness community, intermittent fasting is common. Either as a tool or regular lifestyle
Keto isn’t good for most people who don’t have epilepsy, type 2 diabetes or a few inflammatory conditions. It’s very very rarely reccomended in the long term unless you have an actual condition that all other treatments have been exhausted for.
Alternating on and off keto if you have no medical reason to do it other than weight management is probably better then just going on it for 6 months to a year until your body starts having issues.
Human breastmilk has 17 carbs per cup. Carbohydrates are an essential part of human brain function and development. Keto is an effective medical treatment for several conditions. Most people shouldn’t be messing with it and definitely not long term.
A lot of keto followers also intermittent fast.
Post age 45, I found eating all the carbs and sweets I wanted—and was used to eating with impunity—was leading me to continuously get fatter. I went low carb as a permanent lifestyle change, and lost and have kept off 25 lbs going on two years. Since then, I’ve cut back further on sweets, and cut out alcohol and wheat, and am eating paleo/fairly keto. I feel better and my skin looks great. Five years ago I could not have imagined how I eat now and that I could have relinquished all of the carbs and sweets I was eating. But the less you eat of them, the less you crave them, When I eat a conventional sweet it usually tastes way too sweet for me. I am glad that my palate has changed.
I fully agree with you. I’m in the same boat… I also IF 16/8 most days. I have no taste for sweets or wheat of any kind- no grains, they make me feel so bloated. Gimme zoodles!
My appetite & capacity have decreased & I’m now at a weight I was when I was 39 (139 at 53 years/ 5’5′). I just broke my fast and had a deeelish bowl of last night’s beanless turkey chili with sour cream for my first meal. YUM!
“But the less you eat of them, the less you crave them”
LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is a bit of a hill to climb!
Most people who do keto also do IF, they work wonderfully together and give you amazing energy and mental clarity. But I don’t really understand this. The whole point of the keto diet is to stay in ketosis, of course you can slip out of it every once in a while but alternating between that and carb-based IF doesn’t make sense to me. But glad she’s found what works for her.
I’m a huge fan of keto and IF and if you actually look into them you will realize they’re not ”fads” or ”extreme” at all. But I guess it’s easier to judge everything that’s unfamiliar.
Thank you, Eva. I agree. Keto and IF are in the headlines right now but I don’t see them as fads. There is a lot of research showing the health benefits of both.
I cannot fathom going on and off keto… keto “flu” is miserable.
This is not normal. This is an eating disorder.
lol no , nothing she said indicates that .
You obviously don’t know what a actual eating disorder is.
I was anorexic and bulimic for a good 20 years.
I’m not hearing anything that sounds like that.
Absolutely not.
Someone with an eating disorder could use keto and IF to explain their habits and weight loss, but practicing either is not, in and of itself, a disorder.
There is literally nothing in there that indicates an eating disorder.
I am with cay. If she actually does this, then yes it would be an eating disorder and I doubt her mental health is in a good place.
However, sometimes people lie for magazines, because they want to put out a certain image, or they are training for a role or maybe it is a phase. So I don’t think we can actually diagnose her based on one article.
I really like the therapist who blogs at does every woman have an eating disorder and addresses this stuff.
I think it’s great that she’s found a dietary/workout program that works for her. I’ve been on the keto diet for years, because in my particular case it was either that or type 2 diabetes. I feel good and my cholesterol/blood glucose numbers are excellent, so I find it to be a perfectly sustainable diet, but I don’t know that I’d recommend it to those lucky people whose bodies can tolerate carbs, because god I miss grilled cheese sandwiches and buttered toast.
Her looks are her living, so she has to go to extremes. Moderation in all things is ultimately what works.
Different methods work differently for different people.
Moderation means different things to different people, too.
I am the only person I know that has never been on trendy diets! I eat healthy 85% of the time. If I want the cheesecake, I get it. If I want ice cream, I get it. I just genetically don’t have a sweet tooth and don’t put on much weight. I’m also a big advocate of ‘MORE’. I eat MORE leafy greens, fruits and lean meats…..and I don’t mention or focus on things that aren’t healthy. It really works for me!
The only thing I can’t do often is dairy because my body hates it.
I pretty much do the same thing & it works great for me.
I’ve always been active & eat healthy 80% or more of the time.
But after I had my youngest child 3 yrs ago I just couldn’t get my belly pooch to go away like before….well this has helped a lot!
Bottom line: do what works best for you.
For me, intermittent fasting is literally the easiest “diet” ever, for lack of a better word. It’s just naturally how I eat. I don’t get hungry until between 11 am and noon. Then I don’t get hungry again until 7. And that’s it. I actually made myself sick trying to eat 3 square meals. I ended up with digestive issues and gained a ton of weight even though I was eating a healthy diet, which was shocking because I’ve pretty pretty much stayed the same size since high school. Went back to IF; the inches fell right off and the digestive problems went away.
Seems like she doesn’t eat breakfast, and sometimes restricts lunch & dinner to proteins and fats; otherwise, she eats whatever she wants. Hardly complicated or new or noteworthy.
I tired intermittent fasting (16/8 or whatever it is) but I just don’t have the self control for it. I don’t eat breakfast anyway so the afternoon part was easy, but then when I get home I always mess around and then don’t end up making dinner until like 9 or 10.
Cady, you might just need to change your hours. I had to play around with mine a bit , before landing on 1-9. I think 12-6 is a bit extreme honestly, but if it works for her…
IF has been great for me. I’ve never been a breakfast person, but was always a snacked. Now I find I rarely snack, and I find that my overall appetite is smaller. At first I was worried about over indulging during my free period but it hasn’t happened. I also am not super strict with it – if 12 comes around and I’m hungry – really hungry- I’ll eat. It’s taught me the difference between “boredom hunger” and “actual hunger” which I think is honestly the most important thing, for me anyway!
Her life sounds depressing. Her every moment is dictated by her diet and exercise regime. As someone with anorexia I know how awful that can be. Oh well, maybe some people can live like that without it being a mental illness. I know that I can’t.
Anorexia sufferer here too lucy. I am with you. Fine for her but not for me, my mental health is too important to me, as well as being able to focus because I ate, and sleep, laugh, etc as opposed to freaking out about carbs or if I am in my eating window.
Absolutely right! Although reading that article on Jack Dorsey’s diet makes Vanessa sound completely normal! I’m so glad I’m not a celebrity and have to waste my life on this crap anymore than I have.
I just love mesh tees. Especially black ones. Love them to bits.