Kimberley Walsh has never been happier with how she looks. This is what she has to say:
“I’m really happy with my body at the moment – as happy as I’ll ever be! You can tweak your body and you can improve on yourself a bit, but the proportions of my body will never change, and I’m fine with that. You have to be comfortable with what you’ve naturally been given. You have to make the best of that, and not try to completely change yourself. Body shapes can only change so much.”
Kimberley's advice to anyone wanting to tone up - Dance
“The best piece of advice I could give anyone who wanted to lose weight and tone up would be… go on Strictly! Seriously, dancing is amazing for your body because you’re not trying to lose weight or tone up. It all just happens very naturally… I’ve spent many years putting myself under the spotlight but now, in my thirties, I’ve accepted my body. I feel comfortable with it and I’m pretty happy with the way I look. I’ve learnt that it’s all about making the best of what you’ve got.”
“I loved doing Strictly because I could eat what I wanted. I don’t think I could give up chocolate. I wouldn’t want to anyway… I’d crave it so much! I’m not an emotional eater though – I don’t reach for the chocolate after a bad day. I’m the opposite, actually. If I’m stressed or down, I don’t really eat.”
'My bottom made me self concious' - Known for her curves, she reveals her bottom made her feel she wasn't the norm at school:
“I was always aware that I had a rather large bottom. There weren’t many girls in my school who were the same shape so I was always like, ‘Oh, I’m not really the norm.’”
“I think my bum’s more noticeable because the proportions of my body are quite extreme. But that’s just the way I am. That’s the way I was made.”
Kimberley's rules for looking and feeling good - ditch the quick fixes:
“Like most women, I dieted a lot as a teenager… I remember doing Atkins a few times before a video shoot. It worked, but it was always a quick fix. As soon as I stopped, I’d crave all the things I’d banned myself from and put the weight straight back on! I soon realised that I couldn’t keep it up… I stopped dieting altogether when I was in my early twenties.”
Kimberley's advice find a body icon to copy:
“It’s nice to have someone you can relate to in the media, though. It was only when people like J-Lo and Beyoncé came on the scene when I was younger that I thought, ‘Well, if they’re considered attractive and sexy, then it can’t be that bad [to be curvy]!’ It’s really handy because you can see what they’re wearing and get tips on what might suit you.”
Kimberley's 'more' advice - love what you’ve got and don't believe everything they read in the media:
“I’ve never been one to follow the crowd or be sucked in by peer pressure. I make sure that if I’m going to change the way I look, whether through diet or exercise, I’m doing it for me. I know I’m lucky, in that I’ve always had a kind of inner comfort about the way I look.”
“There’s always been an obsession with weight, but I’ve definitely noticed it getting a lot more intense over the past ten years. One thing I think adds fuel to the fire is the constant commentary on people’s weight [in the press]. It annoys me, because a lot of the time it’s not even correct. I’ve read so many stories about myself where I supposedly weigh one thing in one picture, then another thing in another picture – when I know for a fact I was exactly the same weight in both pictures. One of them is just a bad angle!... We’re not perfect. Unless you’ve got a dietician with you all day long, it’s really hard. I think every woman has some experience of dieting, however extreme. It’s just part of life.”
The full interview is in the summer issue of Cosmopolitan Body, now on sale.
Tagged in Girls Aloud Kimberley Walsh