Charlotte McKinney has shared her workout secrets with HollywoodLife exclusively, and opened up about how she deals with negative comments and body image issues.
She may be considered one of the most beautiful women on our TV screens, but Baywatch star Charlotte McKinney has dealt with her share of body image issues. The 27-year-old spoke to HollywoodLife exclusively on International Day of the Girl at PlateFit Studios in LA about how she deals with negative comments aimed at her appearance. “My teenage years were pretty tough,” she began. “Growing up with an older sister who was beautiful, starting modeling at a young age, I think all of that made me be really critical of myself. I kind of just grew into it so my whole life I kind of compared myself to my sister or someone else,” the model, who was supporting Girl Powerful, a youth empowerment nonprofit designated to five tween girls the mental tools to build a strong sense of self while teaming up with non-profit, said.
The model said she has “tough skin” but she’s still her own toughest critic. “I definitely am still dealing with a bunch of body image [issues] and I think it’s because of the career I chose. You’re under a microscope and I think it’s something I’m still working on day to day,” she said, adding, “You see me looking at photos going, ‘Oh my God, delete it!’ I’m really hard on myself.” As for social media comments, she tries not to read too much into the negativity.
“I try to not look at it, but at the end of the day, you’ll see something. I try to take everything with a grain of salt and kind of just say, ‘I don’t know that person. They have no value in my life. If they want to say something negative, that’s on them.’ I think if you feed into it, you’re just as bad as them,” she said.
Charlotte also opened up about her diet and fitness routine. “I’m all about lengthening and toning. I don’t do heavy weights. I don’t really do anything too intense. It’s more cardio and stretching and yoga and keeping long, lean muscles as opposed to doing a bunch of reps with weights,” she explained. “I usually [work out] six days a week [but] it’s more of a mental thing. Mentally, I feel so much better after I workout. I would say an hour a day, sometimes two hours. It just depends, but I’ve learned to not be so hard on myself.”
As for her go-to meals, Charlotte ops for whole foods when possible and avoids sugar and packaged foods. “I say anyone can lose weight if you eat what’s in season, local, fresh, and not in bags, you’re good. All that other stuff, it’s a trend. Trust me. I’ve fallen into all the juice cleanses and the things, but you end up just crashing so I’ve learned to eat what works for my body.” The foods that work for her body include “Lots of fish, vegetables, fruits and protein.”