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Millie Mackintosh: ‘My Friends Ask Me What I’ve Done To My Arse!’ – EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

The former Made In Chelsea star admits weight-lifting in the gym has given her a perkier posterior, so we chatted to Mills to find out how she achieves her bikini body, including her diet plan and exercise routine…

We’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Millie Mackintosh.

Ever since she threw that drink over Hugo in ‘Made In Chelsea’, we knew she was a girl after her own heart – and she’s done pretty well for herself since leaving the E4 reality show in 2013.

Millie Mackintosh has done amazingly well for herself since leaving Made In Chelsea [Getty]
Millie Mackintosh has done amazingly well for herself since leaving Made In Chelsea [Getty]

Aside from her successful eponymous fashion collection and eyelashes range, she’s become quite the fitness foodie – appearing on Celebrity Masterchef and landing her first Women’s Health cover in the past 12 months.

We sat down with the gorgeous 24-year-old to discover her exercise routine and diet secrets, and found that her passion for leading a healthy lifestyle is more than just skin deep.

Plus, it’s given her some ‘perks’!

Millie's workouts have enhanced her butt [Instagram]
Millie's workouts have enhanced her butt [Instagram]

“My attitude to fitness, ‘strong not skinny’, came from when I started doing more weights-based training,” Millie tells Yahoo at the launch of the new J20 Spritz campaign.

“I decided to work on strength-training and realised that for the body that I want in my head, or that I think looks amazing, it doesn’t involve lots of cardio necessarily.

“You need to have cardio fitness but it’s not just running on a treadmill, it’s actually working on your strength so it’s about putting the hours in, doing hard and heavy lifting.”

And for Millie, her frame is naturally thin so she hits the gym to feel stronger and more powerful after each session.

“Once I found the right trainer to do it with, it slowly became more enjoyable because you can actually do more,” she says.

“For me, I’m naturally thin, I don’t like the word ‘skinny’ [as] I just think it’s an unhealthy message, but it’s about feeling strong in yourself and feeling that you’re getting stronger in the gym.”

Millie Mackintosh flaunting her gym-honed bod in a bikini on holiday [Instagram]
Millie Mackintosh flaunting her gym-honed bod in a bikini on holiday [Instagram]

And getting stronger she certainly is as she revealed to us that she can deadlift a mammoth 75kg. Woah.

In fact, her weight-training has had quite the visual impact – with her pals noticing her butt is perkier!

“My friend was like, ‘Your bum is so different! What have you done to your arse?’’ she says.

“She was like, ‘It’s gone up. It’s moved upwards a bit!’ I think [deadlifting] just makes the muscles go up. I’m in constant glute pain!”

In fact, the reason Mills works on her gluteus maximus is because it’s an area on her body she can actually enhance, as she admits she’s naturally quite flat-chested.

“It feels good to work on your body and I have quite a flat chest so if I can enhance another area in the body, I will!” she says confidently.

Millie hits the gym twice a week [Instagram]
Millie hits the gym twice a week [Instagram]

So, how does one get a body – and a butt – like Millie, we hear you ask?

Well, a week in her fitness diary would consist of two weight-lifting sessions (which include Tabata training – quick bursts of high-intensity exercise), two ballet pilates classes such as Barrecore, and a session of yin yoga.

If she’s busy, she’ll squeeze in a spin class or do a boxing workout at home, but it just depends on her plans for the day.

But the thing about the former reality star, who’s married to rapper Professor Green, is that she doesn’t sit around eating lettuce leaves and sipping green juice.

The whole reason she exercises is so that she can eat what she wants. It’s quite refreshing actually – she’s not afraid to say that she LOVES food.

Millie loves cooking from scratch at home [Instagram]
Millie loves cooking from scratch at home [Instagram]

“I don’t diet. I don’t believe in dieting or fad diets. I don’t really like salads. I like cooked vegetables and I like steamed vegetables, but lettuce just does not do it for me,” she says.

“I’m not just going to sit there and eat a bit of lettuce and be like, ‘That was delicious! I’m full.’

“I like to eat balanced, healthy food in the week, which means no fast food, no junk, no sweets, no crisps, nothing like that, just proper meals – not a huge amount at every meal, but I eat a balance of protein, carbs and veg.”

At the weekend, she relaxes her diet and allows herself to eat whatever she wants, whether it’s cake, carbs or crisps.

Millie on a hike on holiday [Instagram]
Millie on a hike on holiday [Instagram]

Millie tries to limit refined and hidden sugars during the week, but eats plenty of fruit and veg, which contain natural sugars.

She’s also realistic about her schedule – as much as she loves cooking at home for her and Pro, if she’s super-busy, she’ll pick up grilled seabass from her local chippie (who knew they even did that?!)

For Millie, the key word is ‘balance.’ If she has an indulgent meal, she’ll balance it out with a really good workout.

But it’s not just balance in her diet – she strives to be balanced in all aspects of her life, and meditates to combat her busy lifestyle.

“I’ve been using this amazing [meditation] app called Anamaya, by this guy called Graham who’s actually a meditation teacher, and he’s really changing my life, it’s amazing,” she says.

“Just in terms of like dealing with stress and anxiety, I’d totally recommend it over any other kind of therapy.

“Having high levels of stress and cortisol [the stress hormone] in our bodies is really, really toxic.

“It’s just about balancing out our hectic lifestyles, which we all lead, especially those of us living in a city, and it’s just very important for us to lead a healthy life, otherwise you’ll go insane.”

But nobody, even Millie, has a perfect life, and she admits there are days when she just CBA to go to the gym – and she doesn’t force herself to. Equally, she has days where she’s not totally body confident.

“It’s totally normal to just look in the mirror and not love your body every day, I think,” she says.

“Usually, it comes from the inside out. I think we should all try and love ourselves a bit more.”

See? Told you she was one of our faves.

Millie Mackintosh is launching J2O Spritz; a sparkling new blend from J2O. To celebrate, Millie will be sharing her favourite blends from across the country on her Instagram via #BlendRecommends. To find out more, visit J2O.co.uk.

[Millie Mackintosh's EXCLUSIVE blog]

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