Carrie Underwood’s Diet Secrets and Workout Tips

1. Eat for energy. “If I eat too much before a show, I just want to sit down. Too little, and I’m starving. So I eat something small, like Quorn, a tasty meat-free protein, and green beans.”

2. Keep a food diary. Carrie has been tracking her intake for three years! She counts her calories on a regular basis, to see how it all adds up. “Once you realize, it’s like, ‘No wonder I’ve plateaued! No wonder I’ve been gaining weight!’” she says. “Little things really do add up.”

3. Enjoy your favorite foods, healthfully. In 2007 Carrie told SELF “My food indulgences are pizza, and I love… cheese. I have a big problem controlling myself with the cheese.” Two years later, it looks like she found a way to have her pizza and eat it too! Here’s her recipe favorite formula for a healthy, 250-calorie personal pizza: 1 Flatout wrap with 1/4 cup sauce, 1/2 cup fat-free or 2% cheese and loaded up with veggies.

4. Cut the sugar. “My sugar intake is way down, and I have a lot fewer breakouts. Now when I drink tea, it’s unsweetened. Or I’ll have water,” the start told SELF. “Also, I’m off soda. For so long, I’d have a Diet Coke with breakfast!”

Sure, you can probably tone up pretty quickly taking a Louisville slugger to headlights and slashing tires but it turns out that is not the way country idol Carrie Underwood maintains her rockin’ bod. Here are some of the slim and sexy superstar’s favorite fitness secrets:

1.) Make exercise accessible. “I have Exercise TV on cable. Jillian Michaels’s videos will kick your butt. She’s my trainer, and she doesn’t even know it!”

2.) Work toward an event. “Everybody has things they want to look nice for: anniversary, birthday, reunion. I’ll think to myself, Oh, that award show is coming up. Or, I have a photo shoot in four days! It’s nice to set goals.”

3.) Revel in success. “I love it when I feel good about myself. I’ll look at a photo and think, My arms look great!–and then I go work out my arms. Once you’re enjoying things about your body, you realize how much you want to keep them that way or make them better.”

4.) Favorite ab improver: “When I gain weight, it’s in the spare-tire area. I’ve told trainers abs are a physical impossibility for me. And every single time, they’re like, ‘Well, we’ll get you abs!’ So do I have them? No! But they’re as flat as they’re probably going to get. Push-ups work out everything. If you do them right, you’ll feel it in your abs. I do four sets of 10 to 20.”