Carrie Underwood’s Get-Slim Tricks

As she gets ready to tour, the 29-year-old country superstar took a day to talk to SELF, sharing her no-fail preshow workout and diet (plus her guilt-free treats!) and how she stays healthy, happy and in love the rest of the time. Read on to see how she reaches her health and nutrition goals—then sign up for SELF's free Drop 10 Diet to set your own! 

Carrie’s food plan: Know what you eat

“I love eating and talking about food. I’ve been a vegetarian for seven years. But after seeing a friend who looked amazing and had recently gone vegan, I thought, What’s holding me back? Now I’m 95 percent vegan. Sometimes you’re at a birthday party and there’s cake and…you know, you can’t resist. My veganism is based on a concern about where my food is coming from. In my perfect world, I’d have webcams wherever food is processed so I’d know how clean it is. I’ll never eat meat again, because I look and feel better without it, but if I could raise my own cows and chickens and produce my own eggs and cheese, it would be awesome! The food would taste better, because the animals would be happy.”

Her secret do-it-all app “I’m a very regimented eater. I’ve kept food journals for years. Now I do it with the LiveStrong.com phone app, which is great with nutrition info for restaurant meals.”

Her A.M. Kick-Starter: “A vanilla smoothie with pea protein powder, half a banana, a cup of berries, almond milk and ice. Or I’ll make a tofu scramble with whatever I’ve got in the fridge, like spinach, onions and peppers, with salsa on top. If I’m working out in the morning, I’ll also have an orange or a grapefruit. And black coffee. I like a little caffeine boost!”

A Delish, Filling Lunch: “I do a stir-fry with precut veggies. I like broccoli, carrots, broccoli slaw, fake chicken and onions. I eat it with brown rice and season it with Bragg Liquid Aminos, then I’m good to go. It’s a lot of food but not a lot of fat or calories.”

Her Go-To Dinner: “I’ll always be a fan of veggie burgers!”

Kitchen Confidential: “My husband [hockey pro Mike Fisher, 31] would rather go out to restaurants than eat at home—it makes me mad! I really enjoy cooking and eating together at home. If he’s watching TV and I’m cooking, I’m like, ‘Hey, you’re being lazy—come help!’ It’s a nice time to be together and talk. Plus, I don’t know what to do with meat, so if Mike wants it to taste good and doesn’t want to end up in the hospital with food poisoning, it’s best if he makes it himself.”

Her Pre-Event Diet: “I lay off starches. I’m not a fan of the no-carb thing; you’re going to get yourself in trouble that way. So I have lots of veggies and fruit but no other starches or bread.”

Carrie’s fitness plan: Make it fun

“I’ve been pretty consistent with exercise for the past several years. Growing up, I was semisporty but didn’t really do much. If I’d kept on that path, it wouldn’t have ended well! I’m from the South, where there’s a lot of fried food, and that’s bound to show.”

This trick burns 600 calories! “I have a game I love for when I’m working out on my own, without a trainer. I take a deck of cards and assign each suit a body area—say, diamonds for arms, hearts for legs, spades for core and clubs for cardio. I split the deck in half and write down exercises for each suit, a different one for each half. So, if I flip over the six of hearts, I’ll do six squats. If the next card is ace of diamonds, that’s 14 push-ups. Sometimes I’ll make spades boxing and beat the crap out of the bag for however many punches the number on the card says. Having different exercises for each half of the deck keeps me from getting bored. I make sure there’s a joker in each half—that’s a mile run on the treadmill. Then I go through the whole deck. With a 15-minute warm-up on the elliptical, it takes about an hour and a half total, but it’s fun because you’ve designed the workout yourself.”

Pros Aren’t trainers, even when they’re cute: “Mike and I worked out together—once. He wanted to do leg throws, where I lie down, he stands up and I grab his ankles and raise my legs in the air. The idea is for him to push my legs down so they touch the floor, then I lift up again. But he pushed them down so hard, my legs just hit the floor. I was like, ‘I’m smaller than you! Lighten up!’”

Her pre-event workout: “I do more cardio and fewer weights than usual. Although strength training is important, I don’t want to look too muscular on the red carpet. On the morning of this shoot, for instance, if I’d done weights, my muscles would be puffy and I’d have felt bigger all day.”

Carrie’s style plan: Be yourself

“In the beginning, my biggest fear was being criticized. Now I’m a lot better with saying, I feel good about myself and that’s enough.”

Flirting from the red carpet: “I get texts from Mike when I’m on a red carpet that read ‘You’re so hot!’ I like that. Words of affirmation mean a lot to me. But my husband is also pretty conservative. When I’m wearing some outfits, he’ll say, ‘That dress is a little short, don’t ya think?’ He would never tell me I can’t do or wear something or make me feel bad, but I’m a married lady now, so I try to be respectful of my husband. I want to look sexy for him, and I appreciate that he wants to look nice for me, too.”

Her pre-event beauty tip: “Get plenty of water and sleep. That’s it! I’ve heard horror stories about people who’ve done peels or fake tans before events. What if my face melted off? I’ll stick to hydration and a little extra night cream.”

Gotta love a girl who loves pizza! Get Underwood’s no-guilt veggie-pizza recipe at Self.com!

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