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I kept asking myself, "What would Gwyneth Paltrow do?"
Actress and GOOP founder Gwyneth Paltrow spoke to Net-a-Porter about her diet and exercise routine.
She said she exercised for two hours a day, and usually skips breakfast and eats a low carb lunch.
I decided to tackle her habits for a week.
I tried to live like Gwyneth Paltrow for a week, and it didn't quite work out the way I'd planned it.
Paltrow famously leads an intense life. In terms of exercise, she used to do an hour of cardio and an hour of weights six days of the week. Her lifestyle brand GOOP also hawks all sorts of hardcore detoxes and cleanses.
But all that doesn't really reflect Paltrow's current reality. She recently told Net-a-Porter that she doesn't have the time or energy to tackle that grueling schedule anymore: "I'm getting old, my back hurts! It's depressing. Some days, the gym gives me this rush of energy and I feel amazing, but then my body's like 'f--- you.'"
She also doesn't stick to any GOOP cleanses for a long amount of time. She told Net-a-Porter she passes on breakfast and eats a low carb lunch "so my energy levels don't peak and valley through the day." Then, for dinner, she typically decides to "loosen the reins."
I decided to follow her diet as best I could, as well as take up her previous exercise routine. Here are the rules I was determined to follow for a week:
Skip breakfast
Have a low carb lunch
Put in an hour of cardio exercise
Go for an hour of weights-based exercise
Eat a dinner along the lines of her typical evening meal: "A glass of wine, maybe a baguette dripping in cheese, some fries."
I didn't prepare at all for this. I just jumped into it, sparking concerns among the people I know. "You're going to die," several coworkers told me when I described my plan. Family members predicted I would "seriously injure" myself and expressed concerns about my shambling running style.
All of this just bolstered my determination to rise to the occasion.
The experiment itself left me somewhat surprised. On the one hand, some of Paltrow's dietary habits were easier to tackle than I thought. On the other, I ended up pulling my shoulder.
Here's a look at what happened when I tried to live like Gwyneth Paltrow for a week: