Yahoo Lifestyle Jennifer Aniston: I Used To Be "A Lot Rounder"
Jennifer Aniston in 1990, 2012. Photo: Getty Images
Jennifer Aniston keeps her friends close and her yoga instructor, Mandy Ingber, even closer, crediting her enviable figure at 44 to Ingber's longtime help.
Confessing "a lot has changed" about her body since the fitness friends first met 22 years ago, Aniston doesn't miss her former self.
"We were a lot rounder," Aniston said with a laugh at the Self magazine-sponsored celebration of Ingber's new book, Yogalosophy: 28 Days To the Ultimate Mind-Body Makeover in West Hollywood. "We ate terribly. We did that, and then we sort of grew up a little bit more and we got jobs."
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Describing her fitness regime: 'Yoga strengthens my muscles and gives me a great sense of peace and calm. It also improves my breathing and centers me," the 44-year-old said. "Then, I usually follow yoga with about 40 minutes of cardio – hiking, running or at the gym,' the star revealed.
But that's not to say that she doesn't indulge herself every now and then."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," Aniston added.
Jennifer Aniston, Mandy Ingber. Photo: Getty Images
The actress credits her killer legs to yoga and Ingber, who witnessed her transformation.
"It's hard to say is that yoga or is it as we get older we grow into ourselves, but I've seen her become so empowered, so grounded in herself, so comfortable in her own skin," Ingber said.
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Ingber has also helped tone the bodies of Brooke Shields and Helen Hunt. Aniston's Friends costar and real-life pal Courtney Cox and actress Kate Beckinsale attended the event too.
Aniston also shared a few tips with Self to get beginners through what can sometimes be a grueling yoga routine.
"Love the body that you have right now because that's the perfect body and then be patient with yourself," she said. "When you first start yoga, you might feel like 'I can't do this, it hurts,' and then be patient. Do little bits and you get there. You do, it's all about being really gentle with yourself and acceptance of what it is at the moment.
