How to be fashion model thin
This article is written by a member of our expert community. It expresses that member’s views only. We welcome other perspectives. Here’s how to contribute to MM EDU.
Weight is a sensitive but real issue in this business. Clients often ask, “Is she too thin?” “Is she too big?” “Will she fit into the clothes?” Models call and say, “Rob, my agent is going to measure me! What do I do?” “I just got weighed at my agency and they said I am fat.” I have heard agents say, “We tell models to starve themselves.”
As a fashion photographer, I know that if I am handed some designs to shoot I need to work with a model that is going to fit into those clothes and the photography had better be good. That is the bottom line. So, if your objective is to be a fashion model, you need learn how to model and fit into the clothes.
Here are my 4 tips for getting and staying fashion model thin:
1. Eat Right
It is very easy to spend an hour in spin class and then run off and eat fast food at the drive through. Just this morning I was ordering fast food. I am guilty too. Later I hit the gym. The reality is the two cancel each other out. It is extremely important to make good choices. Most working models do not eat fast food. Raw veggies are very important. Stay away from processed foods. No Soda. Drink lots of water. Eat lots of protein. Stay away from regular bread and eat gluten free. There is a lot of great protein in chicken and nuts and I always have protein bars within reach in case I get the munchies. The important thing is to eat about six times a day to keep your metabolism going. The portions should be small. If you’re lost and have no idea what I am talking about, hire the services of a professional nutritionist. He or she can put you on the path to being model thin. Remember, this is an investment in your chosen profession.
2. Exercise
This should be obvious. If you are a fashion model you need to take care of your body and exercise. Not only should you have a cardio workout, you need to get in the gym and start lifting weights. I recommend lifting lighter weights at high reps. Stay away from the heavier weights. I used to lift pretty heavy weights myself in the gym. A few weeks ago I was talking with a personal trainer who has an amazing physique. He was bench pressing 50 pounds and a 45 pound barbell. This is pretty light weight for a man of his size. All of the other “gym buffs” were lifting around 135 pounds plus a 45 pound barbell.
When I asked him why we were lifting such heavy weights and he was lifting such easy weights, the trainer told me it was all about ego. “You really don’t need that much weight to build a great physique, if you want to be ripped but lean. You watch other people lift heavy weights so your ego competes with them and tells you that you have to lift more and more.” I listened to him and started working out with less weight and more reps. My body is already starting to make noticeable changes. If you’re a woman and you don’t want that “bodybuilder look,” I suggest the same strategy. Also, consider the services of a personal trainer. Be sure to work with someone who is actually in shape and appears to know what he or she is talking about.
3. Don’t Cheat
If you workout hard, that does not give you the right to go home and snack on junk. All of your hard work will be put to waste. I understand that as people we all fall off the wagon and go through rough patches. The trick is to recognize you are off track and get back on it. If you are going to have a meal that is less than healthy, do your best to plan for it. Pay extra attention to your diet leading up to the special meal and offset the caloric bomb with extra workouts.
4. Crash Diet Carefully
These are not good if you don’t change your eating habits. I have lost a lot of weight on them. I used to partake in the “Lemonade Diet.” Each time I was on it I lost approximately 20 pounds in a two week period. The problem was the diet was so severe that I never changed my eating habits and gained all the weight back in a matter of months. Keep in mind I was exercising on that particular diet and results do vary. Men seem to lose weight quicker than women from my experience on crash diets. If you’re not keeping up with smart eating habits and exercise, they can take a toll on your health.
Keeping in shape is one of the most difficult aspects of being a fashion model. However, if you take care of your body you will be rewarded in life and at work. Enjoy the benefits of your healthy lifestyle.
August 28, 2021 at 7:31 pm, Denver Arborist said:
I always say that models are so tall, thin and flat because their job is to emulate a walking clothes hanger. They’re not there to be real women, they’re there to be a support for clothes. This is, of course, dehumanizing and I’m glad there are efforts to change the culture.
June 27, 2017 at 8:24 am, Gehde said:
I am sad that you delete my comment early invited to discuss 🙁
June 27, 2017 at 8:13 am, Gehde said:
Vegan and this similar are cheating now is artificial meat and we as models should eat a lot of this and people also should really eat a lot of this meat and not be vegan this is rather not healthy
December 16, 2012 at 6:09 pm, Elizabeth said:
whole grains are an important part of a balanced diet, especially if you are exercising that much
November 13, 2012 at 3:49 pm, Emilio Franso said:
Before going anorexic for the industry, remember you’ll never be thin enough, they will never appreciate what you go through, and they’ll not take care of you when they no longer need you. Lose weight for health, not employment. One person may turn you down for your looks, another is looking for you exactly! If you find yourself trying to “be thin” for your job, you need another job immediately.
December 03, 2011 at 2:02 am, Leftbankfoto said:
There has been a little confusion on number 4. The entry that I wrote was called: If you choose to crash diet use caution. It was reedited by mm for brevity. I do not endorse crash diets at all. They work if your in a pinch as I have lost weight on them. Be careful of crash diets though as they are not a longterm solution to losing weight.
November 28, 2011 at 10:04 pm, LizW_Makeup said:
Hmm. Honestly, I opened this thinking it would be the shortest article ever:
“How to be fashion model thin: Be born that way.”
The reason there are very few fashion models is that there are very few people out there who have the height, physical proportions (including the set ones, such as skeletal), and symmetry to become fashion models (as opposed to other kinds f models). Those are things you are born with. You can influence the number on the scale to a certain degree, but you can’t do much about how wide your bones are.
Suggesting that it’s simply about diet & exercise is irresponsible as well as misleading. If you weren’t born with the DNA of a fashion model, you probably won’t become a successful fashion model. But this article reads like, “Try hard enough and….”
No. Most people’s chances of becoming a fashion model were wiped out at the moment they were CONCEIVED. Why instill false hope when the industry suggests the opportunities just aren’t there?
March 01, 2016 at 12:03 am, disqus_7DfMK7Gq9P said:
Your comment is one of the most sensible things I have ever read. Seriously. Thank you.
November 09, 2011 at 11:39 pm, Lauren A Farrington said:
whoa whoa whoa. Hold up.
I understand the fashion industry is super competitive and you NEED to look a certain way to get booked and such, but um…crash dieting? Really? That’s the worst thing you could ever recommend to someone who is trying to maintain a particular physique. Crash diets are bad for your health and can actually make it harder to lose weight later on.
They’re really just a terrible idea.
Seriously, if you want to be a model in the fashion industry, the best thing you can do for yourself is find a good nutritionist. A personal trainer isn’t a bad idea, either. People are so misguided about dieting and weight loss that it really is best to take advice only from a trained professional, not from random posts on the internet. Especially this one.
October 20, 2011 at 4:31 pm, Lisa Michelle Dixon said:
Very well said Robert! 🙂
October 13, 2011 at 1:30 pm, Anonymous said:
Aside from all the awful advice others have touched on, I have to point out that you should never go gluten free unless you are medically required or recommended to do so. For one thing, gluten is a protein that requires evolution to process, so if you go off of it for a few months, you will render yourself gluten intolerant even if you actually weren’t. Second, the way your advice is written (“go off regular bread and go gluten free”), you are actually recommending that people GAIN weight. Gluten free alternatives to normally gluten filled foods are far more processed than normal products, and they’re generally made from bleached, rather than whole, grains. What’s more, because they are made from grains not containing gluten like rice and tapioca, they are actually more caloric, more carb heavy, more starchy, and containing far more sugar. That’s why most people who go gluten free initially gain weight. If you want to be healthy, lower your consumption of ALL grains, especially un-whole ones, but there is no weight related benefit to going gluten free if you’re not also going to change the type of diet. Also, crash dieting causes your body to freak out and think that it’s starving, so it actually hangs on to fat because it thinks it’s not going to get fed.
So, asshat, if you want to recommend unhealthy and stupid tactics to lowering your weight, at least know that what you’re recommending actually DOES that.
October 13, 2011 at 2:41 am, Nyloracarolynx3 said:
I don’t know why everyone is freaking out. This ISN’T an article on how to be healthy. It’s an article on how to be FASHION THIN which, in reality, isn’t healthy at all. The advice given here is accurate for the question it answers, “How to become fashion thin?”
February 01, 2015 at 8:02 pm, Brandy Foster said:
I’m so glad someone stated this. Because I so wanted to. I’m not advocating this article but, you are speaking the truth!
October 10, 2011 at 11:57 pm, GeoInSF said:
I want to defend this article as follows:
1. He is a photographer and he’s giving his professional advice from his professional perspective: the industry imposes specific, uncompromising aesthetic demands. Period. Other industries impose similar physical or aesthetic demands (actors playing certain roles, for example; a fireman, astronaut, or Cirque du Soleil performer may have size restrictions as well as physical requirements for the job.)
2. He is not holding himself out as a doctor and no reasonable person would or should take this as “medical advice.” That doesn’t appear to be how he intended it to be taken.
3. Some of the advice is common sense and some is gained through experience watching models over the years as a photographer. Soda, for whatever reason, seems to cause weight gain or gloating or whatnot. If you’re serious about looking the way you need to look in order to work, you can’t eat cake. So don’t. That’s the deal.
I am a professional in a completely different industry and I came across this and I appreciate it for what it is: who better to tell it straight than a photographer who sees the commercial reality of it day in and day out. I find it refreshing when someone calls it like it is. You can protest all you want but if you want to look good, you’re going to have to work for it. That’s what I got out of reading this article. If I need serious nutritional or medical advice, I’ll make an appointment with my doctor or a registered dietitian. Obviously,
October 13, 2011 at 1:31 pm, Anonymous said:
I totally understand that perspective, but it should be more clear. Also, like I posted above, some of what he’s recommending actually causes you to gain weight, which is the problem with laypeople giving advice about shit they know nothing about.
May 23, 2012 at 6:34 pm, Sarah said:
Yeah, I hate it when soda causes gloating.
August 02, 2018 at 4:28 pm, sunwinepizza said:
How can a photographer be specialized as a nutritionist and trainer? Those are whole different professions in which people are studied and trained. The advice he gives is not backed up properly. Apart from the fact that most models aren’t living a healthy lifestyle at all with consequences that I guarantee will appear later in their life.
October 10, 2011 at 2:30 pm, Nori Zay said:
Really? Who asked you to post this, anyway? What a dumb thing to say. “Oh yes, go ahead and crash diet,” are you out of your mind?
October 10, 2011 at 12:03 am, Syabil Lopez said:
THIS is a GREAT advice. Best we, Models, start NOW for a BETTER career
October 09, 2011 at 11:38 pm, Claire Hesse said:
This is so not OK
November 22, 2011 at 9:01 am, Paul said:
Hey Claire, glad you’re back from the dead…
October 09, 2011 at 10:33 pm, Caballero said:
This should be in a diet section not a fashion section.
October 09, 2011 at 9:50 pm, Anon said:
Law suit in the making. Good luck.
October 09, 2011 at 4:57 pm, Scottchoucino said:
Having a post-grad in Exercise and Health related physiology I would strongly suggest people not to follow this. It is highly irresponsible for the website to publish this under education when people who are less informed may blindly follow it. The weight training bit is completely wrong but less damaging to one than the other parts.
Surely someone will remove this?
October 09, 2011 at 4:05 pm, Rocknroll-amy said:
How can someone like yourself advocate crash diets? I have people in my family with serious eating disorders all because of articles like this. And Im sorry but not everyone can be a fashion model, for a start you have to be tall (any tips on how to make yourself taller? Ha thought not), you have to have the right bone structure and generally most fashion models have long legs and arms (again a genetic trait that no amount of starvation will ever change if youre not lucky in that department).
And for the record, Im super slim, Im 5’9, leggy, and I EAT WHAT I WANT WHEN I WANT. I think you should seriously reconsider offering this type of “advice” to anyone.
October 09, 2011 at 12:20 pm, Bonnie said:
I am a nurse. The above advice is OK but not really in the realm of “professional” advice. A photographer knows nothing about proper food choices, glycemic index, people’s personal health issues etc. And Crash dieting is a bad NO NO …………. Makes your weight worse and can cause major health problems. Please talk to your Dr, a professional licensed dietician and a licensed fitness trainer for proper dieting and exercising.
October 09, 2011 at 2:13 am, Sevastian Farid Volkov said:
Men and women of color should look into decolonizing your diet (read For Indigenous Eyes Only if you want more on that). Most non-European people are lactose intolerant, for instance, and lots of NDN people have bodies that react badly to things like grains that were introduced into their culture’s diets only recently. This causes lots of problems in NDN communities – obesity, diabetes, heart disease. I’ve lost a lot of relatives at an early age to diabetes … It’s worth looking into.
September 28, 2016 at 7:58 pm, kate said:
Only Europeans ate grains? That’s quite daft to say.
October 09, 2011 at 2:02 am, Starcoas said:
This concept of getting thin has blown up in other countries and now if you come across to thin you need a doctors note to say your capable of doing a runway show. I’m requesting this of all my models for all my shoots.
October 09, 2011 at 1:55 am, Starcaos said:
There is a lot more to dieting and eating right then what you putting food in your mouth. There is also a countless amount of health problems, that individuals encounter that causes weight gain or weight loss. If you really want to loose weight you need a personal trainer, and a licensed dietitian. You can get really sick if your body doesn’t get certain nutrients that it needs to survive. IF you don’t eat enough calories in your day your heart can’t create energy powered by calories to make your heart beat. Its your body and you only get one. Please be responsible with how you take care of your self. There is no quick fix to creating a perfect body. I say we bring back real women and real men. Why diet if the photographer is going to photoshop you later anyway. This is a real sad joke.
October 10, 2011 at 5:54 am, Bethanie said:
Amen to the last part especially, I’m tired of disgustingly thin women. If you’re naturally skinny, great. If you’re not, you still look awesome and FUCK anyone who says differently.
October 09, 2011 at 12:01 am, Marketa Fei said:
In the forums, fine, but this is supposed to be an educational article. Is even one professional source too much to ask? This has a ton of really terrible advice in it, and I doubt a reliable source could have been found to support most of this. The entire point of an educational section is defeated when there are articles (like this one) which could have sources cited in them but don’t.
October 08, 2011 at 8:20 pm, PrettyXneat said:
I usually eat right, but I hate “exercising” so i trick myself into “playing” instead of exercising and have always kept a very very busy lifestyle so that I’m not a couch potato and fall into laziness. And I’ve always told people who thought I was too thin (family and co-workers) that modeling is a lifestyle and this is a sacrifice one must be willing to take on if they’re serious about what they do. There are so many girls out there that actually dont have to work hard to stay thin, but I have very wide hips, and wide shoulders that I have to always make sure that I’m being careful not to put on pounds. But its not so difficult when I have so many activities and jobs going on, bc I get so stressed and actually forget to eat! This happened to me last week, and I started feeling very strange, everything was cloudy, I was lightheaded, was having cold sweats and very shaky. I knew I needed to grub and my body needed sugar. So I “pigged out” and ate two sandwiches and drank some juice. And NOW, now that I know what our bodies will do if we dont keep food in our system, I will NEVER tell a model to starve herself. And I use to agree with it, but NOW i know that people who say that should feel ashamed of themselves. Its better to tell a girl, “this industry isn’t for u” then to say, “starve yourself” bc she might take it to seriously and actually put herself in medical danger, and THAT IS NOT RIGHT. PLUS, I’m not gonna lie, extremely thin girls, don’t look womanly or sexy in clothes or naked. From all the models I have worked with and met, the most beautiful ones are the girls who are thin BUT not unhealthy thin, the ones that still have a butt and boobs to fill out the clothes and look sexy and sultry. 🙂 Thats just my opinion though. If designers want someone that thin, I know many very skinny men, gay and straight, who wouldn’t mind dressing up in female clothing. So if designers want to advertise WOMEN’S clothing, ask a woman who actually looks like they have women parts, otherwise, ask a skinny man:)
October 08, 2011 at 6:57 pm, Amanda said:
Good stuff…ill start on this, but I dont want to be a stick figure…not a good look lol
October 08, 2011 at 5:04 pm, Jess said:
A photographer publishing a diet article? Yikes. I really hope my neurologist isn’t taking advice from mailmen about brain surgery because this is pretty much the same thing. If you want advice on dieting, ask a Registered Dietitian (not a “professional nutritionist” which is an unregulated term that anyone off the street can call himself.)
October 08, 2011 at 12:42 pm, semi234 said:
Personally I think recommending “crash dieting” at all is the height of irresponsibility for a professional article & serves to undercut the writer’s own credibility on the entire piece.
June 04, 2014 at 8:12 am, Myra Esoteric said:
Sometimes ‘crash dieting’ also known as cutting in the bodybuilding field, is necessary to break through plateaus. Say what you want about the ‘Master Cleanse’, but it actually does work sustainably as part of a low-calorie diet.
I’m no model, but the MC, plus a lifelong commitment to low-cal, has helped me lose weight. Not everyone gets to their ultimate goal, but we can at least expand our range of tools to try.
October 08, 2011 at 8:31 am, COCO922 said:
HOW MOST(MODELS) GIRLS DO IT–SMOKE-DRINK-EAT BAD FOOD-BINGE,STOP EATING,SOME MORE LIQUOR,COFFEE,MOST DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT NUTRITION OR WANT TO KNOW…”I CAN EAT ANYTHING AND GAIN NO WEIGHT” WHAT A JOKE SOMETIMES…
October 10, 2011 at 5:56 am, Bethanie said:
Good god tone it down, it’s not like this is a fucking crisis.
October 08, 2011 at 12:40 am, LB said:
GREAT TIPS AS I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET MY WEIGHT BACK DOWN TO ITS REGULAR SIZE BY CHANGING MY EATING HABITS. FAST FOOD DOES TAKE A TOLL AND BETTER FOOD CHOICES IS TRUELY THE ONLY WAY TO SEE A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE.
October 10, 2011 at 5:57 am, Bethanie said:
You tone it down too, I doubt anybody cares about your body’s “regular” size anyway.
October 12, 2011 at 7:40 pm, LB said:
O SO YOUR ONE OF THOSE ONES I SEE, SO CALLED CONFIDENT IN YOURSELF SO YOU TELL OTHERS HOW THEY’RE OVER REACTING ABOUT THE THINGS THEY’RE UNCOMFORTABLE. NOBODY ASKED YOU, JUST BECAUSE I MENTION TONING DOESN’T MEAN I’M TRYING TO GET PENCIL THIN. I LOVE MY CURVES LAST TIME I CHECKED TONING DOWN YOUR STOMACH WASN’T A BAD THING.
November 10, 2011 at 8:40 am, Beth said:
Yeah actually I meant turn off the caps lock. But you obviously are over-reacting so…
November 10, 2011 at 4:56 pm, LB said:
I WRITE IN CAPS. HENCE WHY MY DISQUS NAME IS IN CAPS “LB” 😉
________________________________
October 07, 2011 at 11:10 pm, Markus Goerg said:
Dave is right on. Not everyone who WANTS to be a fashion model SHOULD be. Sometimes it’s better to recognize one’s limits and just find something else to do or do modeling as a hobby rather than a way to make a living.
October 07, 2011 at 10:09 pm, dave said:
often when i shoot super thin girls, they’ll tell me all about how they eat lots of unhealthy food, never work out, and never gain a pound.
it’s always good to recommend diet and exercise, but some people aren’t going to be fashion skinny no matter how disciplined they are. there’s definitely a genetic component, some people are lucky, others not so much.
September 25, 2017 at 5:35 pm, Sarah said:
Totally disagree with this – every single thin girl I’ve met is doing something that keeps her thin, even if she doesn’t realize it. A girl who claims to eat ice cream for breakfast and who never exercises – I know a model who is exactly like this but she is also vegan and eats barely anything (even if what she does eat isn’t good for her)
thin does not equal healthy, and unfortunately that is what most celebrities and models we see today are.
October 06, 2017 at 6:26 pm, leanne said:
Dave is true. Its called Ectomorph.
Everyone body shape is different.
October 06, 2017 at 6:35 pm, leanne said:
And being vegan doesn’t mean eating greens and starving yourself
Alot of vegan food contain high calories and starch.
October 06, 2017 at 6:35 pm, leanne said:
I agree Dave