Jennifer Aniston is the Confident Role Model You've Been Looking For
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Jennifer Aniston’s a guaranteed headline. From her iconic Rachel haircut, to her breakup with Brad Pitt, to her new romance with Justin Theroux, the public, and thus the tabloids, love her. She’s on the cover of InStyle's February issue, in which the 46-year-old actress, who just scored a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Cake, says no to Botox and yes to pasta (lots of it). She also said thumbs up to going up a dress size. So instead of talking about her failed relationships or loyalty to little black dresses, let’s talk about how she’s been a consistent voice of reason when it comes to food and body issues. If you’re looking for a confident role model, go ahead and read one of the many interviews with Aniston sure to be available this award season. Below, we rounded up some of her most honest quotes about food.
“I never ate pasta. I’ve been allowing myself a lot more in the past few years. Which does make it harder to lose those last few pounds,” Aniston told InStyle on Monday. ”But you have to live. And so what? You go up a size. What’s the big deal?”
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(Cue: gasp.) And while especially in Hollywood, weight gain is rather taboo, we’re tipping our hats off to Aniston, who’s had a consistent body-positive approach to life. Sure, she’s expressed a desire to drop a few pounds, but the actress loves a good cheat meal (Mexican, of course), maintains a healthy workout regime, and offers some majorly poignant advice: “If someone loves you more if you’re thinner, get rid of them!” Here’s a chronicle of Aniston’s thoughts on weight, dating back to her days on Friends.
"I knew that was coming," Aniston told US magazine in November 2014. “I basically just didn’t work out for two-and-a-half months. I stopped working out and I stopped being as careful about my diet as I normally am. I was still healthy, but I’d allow more.” (On her weight gain for Horrible Bosses 2.)
“If I was being super picky, I would love to drop 5 pounds. That is just where I have always been really comfortable, at about 110 to 113 pounds. But it is harder at this age,” Aniston told Yahoo Beauty in August 2014.
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“For the last year and a half, I went from being a crazy workout girl to sort of saying, ‘My body wants a little bit a of break.’ So I kind of stay with more simple stuff and taking walks and not being neurotic about working out and eating right,”Aniston told Women’s Health. ”I started to enjoy life a little bit more. The only downside to that is there’s that couple extra pounds and about 4,000 pregnancy rumors, but you know, other than that, it feels great.”
“I work out almost every day, at least five or six days a week. I do 40 minutes of cardio: spinning, running, the elliptical, or a combination of all three. Then I do Pilates one day a week, and I do yoga in addition to that, three days a week. I try to mix it up,” Aniston told InStyle magazine in March 2012. She added: “You’re told to avoid fried food, but I don’t always,’ she shares. ‘I had Mexican the other night and ate everything you can imagine.”
In a questionnaire Aniston answered on Self.com she answered:If I could trade bodies with one person for 24 hours, I’d pick: Would I really want to give it back? I’d love to be able to ski like a crazy person, like Lindsey Vonn. Then I’d also like to have Gisele’s body, just ‘cuz, why not?
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"I eat really well and I work out, but I also indulge when I want to. I don’t starve myself in an extremist way. My advice: just stop eating sh*t every day,” Aniston told the Examiner in May 2011.
On her target spot and her famous yoga instructor Mandy Ingber: “That was always my ‘ugh’, my legs,’ she explained. ‘That’s why I credit her for (them) – with yoga.”
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On cheat days: “Cheat days for me are usually … it’s either Mexican food … maybe Italian pasta, but I think you always have to do it in moderation,” she told to People magazine in May 2013.
On her body 22 years ago: “We were a lot rounder. We ate terribly. We did that, and then we sort of grew up a little bit more and we got jobs.”
“Everybody says it’s normal, but I’d like to get rid of them,” Aniston said in an interview with InStyle after she quit smoking and admitted to putting on a few pounds that were hard to get rid of.
“I swear, I eat more now than I ever did in my life — I just work out more, because it feels great. And if that old cheeseburger and fries start to look irresistible to me, I’ll eat it. I never wanted to be a spokesperson for weight loss. In fact, I Feel the same now as I did five pounds ago.” Aniston told W magazine in Nov. 1999. “If someone loves you more if you’re thinner, get rid of them!”
