I Can Make You Hot! (6 page)

Never take a credit card on your run. Shop owners and other customers are offended by sweaty shoppers (and certainly sweaty people should not be trying on clothes).

Unless you live in outer space, over time you need to work harder to fight gravity. When I was getting ready for my
Shape
magazine cover, I upped my exercise routine and ramped up my squats. I didn’t do that two years earlier when I shot the
Playboy
cover, and even though other people might not have noticed the difference in my body, I did. Did I love doing those extra squats? Absolutely not. But I wanted people to see what one could look like at forty-three. I know that I need to eat well and work out every single day to fight the force of gravity. Being my personal best is a choice I’ve made, and you can make that choice, too.

Kelly’s Playlist

It’s much more fun exercising to music. Here are a few tunes that will heat up your workout.

“Jolene” by Dolly Parton

“Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap

“Skinny Love” by Bon Iver

“Float On” by Modest Mouse

“Quelqu’un M’a Dit” by Carla Bruni

“Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey

“I Hate that You Love Me” by Diddy

“Beautiful People” by Chris Brown

“Kids” by MGMT

“Move Like Jagger” by Maroon 5

So, Run for Your Life!

If you’re feeling lethargic and dull, the best way I know to start feeling HOT is to get up and go. Now I run to make sure I have the energy and enthusiasm to participate fully in all aspects of my life. I never start my day without a twenty-minute run or a hug and a kiss from my girls. I could be on the beach, in the streets of Easthampton, New York, Paris, with or without a dog, but I run. I run for my life.

Get Leggier Legs

An April 10, 2009, article about me in
Harper’s Bazaar
captioned one of the photos “She’s got legs.” I was born blessed with long, lean legs, but I work very hard to keep them looking the way they do. I’m tall, but I could just as easily have long, large legs. And long and large is not hot. Unfortunately I can’t give you my legs. But I can help you to be the best
you
can be. Here are three exercises that will tone your legs so that even if they don’t get longer, they’ll look longer because they’re leaner.

1. BALLET SQUATS: Do 10 to 15 of these.

2. BRIDGE: Do 10 of these.

3. STORK: Stand (with your hand on the wall or the back of a chair if necessary for balance) and lift your right leg toward your chest. Hold that position for 30 seconds and repeat with your left leg. In yoga this is called the Stork pose. To make it more difficult you can also try doing a one-legged squat by bending the leg that’s on the floor. Do 8 of these on each leg.

How to Avoid the
“Freshman Fifteen”

We’ve all heard about the dreaded fifteen pounds almost every college freshman seems to gain. But you don’t have to. All you need to do is maintain a sense of balance and keep making good choices for yourself. Even if you’re cooking for yourself, there are plenty of easy, healthy options. You don’t need much equipment to make healthy meals for yourself, just one good knife, one nonstick frying pan, and one saucepan. Try my
Extra-Easy Oatmeal
for breakfast; it doesn’t even require any cooking. And even if all you have is a hot plate in a dorm room, you can still have
Shrimp Taco Tuesdays
,
Bar No-Pitti Pasta
,
Bowties and Green Pearls
, and
Pineapple Fried Rice
, to name just a few options, and, of course, any one of the many salad choices. Check out all the recipes and see which ones appeal to you—and I don’t mean just the brownies or the cake!

Here are a few “Kelly rules” for keeping off that extra weight:

1. Do 15 minutes of fun exercise every day:

Do 20 push-ups.

Do 20 sit-ups.

Do 20 jumping jacks.

Jump rope for 2 minutes.

Put on your headphones and dance it out until your time is up. Channel those dance parties you used to have in high school. Watch your moves in the mirror and have a party by yourself.

Now sit on your bed, close your eyes, and think about what you’re really good at. Get rid of any negative thoughts. Negative-town isn’t Fun-town.

2. For every beer you drink, you owe me a glass of water.

3. For every piece of pizza, you owe me 20 sit-ups.

4. If you wake up hung over, you owe me a bottle of water and a 20-minute run.

5. For every cheeseburger and fries, you owe me 12 cartwheels on the quad with your friends.

6. For every milkshake, you owe me 50 jumping jacks.

7. If you starve yourself for a day because you want to lose weight for Homecoming, you owe me 5 minutes of sitting Indian style in a corner and meditating on why you thought that was a good option.

8. For every pint of ice cream you eat while studying or watching TV, you owe me a pint of nonfat yogurt instead (next time you have the craving).