Life

20 Questions: Scuplted vegan Kim Constable is living the life of her dreams

Gail Bell asks experts and people in the public eye what keeps them going. This week: Belfast vegan bodybuilder, founder of the Sculpted Vegan and yoga instructor, Kim Constable

Kim Constable, vegan bodybuilder and creator of the Sculpted Vegan fitness and eating programme
Kim Constable, vegan bodybuilder and creator of the Sculpted Vegan fitness and eating programme Kim Constable, vegan bodybuilder and creator of the Sculpted Vegan fitness and eating programme

1 Up and at it – what is your morning routine?

I usually waken around 6.30am, drink a pint of water with lemon and pick up my phone to check my sales overnight and also all my messages on Instagram. My company is worldwide so it literally never stops. I'll have coffee and then drink a fresh green juice before getting on the stairMaster for an hour. We home-school our kids so they don’t waken up until around 8–9am. My housekeeper arrives and feeds the kids while I am at the gym.

2 What might you eat in a typical working day for...

Breakfast? Breakfast is usually either home-made bircher muesli or porridge, both with a scoop of The Protein Works vanilla protein powder added.

Lunch? I always bulk cook, so lunch is often the previous night’s dinner.

Evening meal? Dinner can be anything from grains and salad, to a stew or casserole, or tofu, rice and steamed veg.

3 Is nutrition important to you?

Extremely important – junk food is empty calories that actually borrows nutrients from the cell tissues to digest. Sometimes I will have a few French fries if I’m eating out, but 99 per cent of my diet is clean, whole food.

4 Best meal ever?

My current food obsession is the Mexican chain Boojum – their burrito boxes are simply to die for.

5 Do you have a guilty pleasure?

When I’m dieting for a show and craving something sweet, I love a teaspoon of peanut butter dipped in vegan chocolate spread.

6 Have you ever been on a diet? If so, how did it go?

I diet every year for 16 weeks before a show. Dieting is a very systematic approach – you simply gradually reduce your calories and increase your cardio week by week for 16 weeks. This year I stood on stage at about 10 per cent body fat so, yes, I’d say my diet went pretty well.

7 Do you take health supplements?

As a vegan bodybuilder, I take a massive amount of supplements, including vitamin B complex, vitamin C, magnesium and a heap of amino acids for muscle recovery and repair.

8 How do you relax?

I rarely relax; I’m on the go all the time. But, when I need to, I love to watch an episode of something on Netflix or simply lie on the sofa with my kids and have a power nap.

9 Teetotal or tipple?

Tipple, most definitely. I love drinking gin and beer and have a few drinks every weekend with my husband and family. The only time I’m teetotal is when I’m dieting for a show. Alcohol messes with your blood sugar and is also very calorific.

10 Stairs or lift?

Mostly lift, but if it’s being too slow, I’ll bound up the stairs. When I’m dieting, I always take the stairs.

11 Do you have a daily exercise regime?

I train in the gym five days a week, from Monday to Friday, walk on the StairMaster for 60 minutes three days a week and practice yoga three times a week. I take Sunday completely off, as a day of rest.

12 Best tip for everyday fitness?

Be consistent. The problem with most people is they lack consistency. They let themselves off the hook when they don’t feel like it, but you need to treat fitness like a job. Show up, even when you don’t feel like it.

13 On a scale of one to 10, how fit do you think you are and how fit would you like to be?

Depends what you mean by fit – I’m not hugely cardiovascularly fit as I don’t do a lot of cardio, but I am very strong and can easily squat in excess of 100kg. So as an athlete, I guess I’d have to say 10.

14 Have you tried, or would you try, alternative therapy?

Yes, I regularly get acupuncture, chiropractic work, massages, reiki and work on my nervous system. It’s very important.

15 Were school sports happy times or do you have a memory you would rather forget?

I wasn’t athletic in school and never enjoyed sports. I think it’s because they weren’t optional and you only had a limited choice of what you could do. If bodybuilding had been an option in school, I’d definitely have taken it!

16 Did you ever have a health epiphany which made you change your lifestyle?

I am also a yoga teacher and only started bodybuilding three years ago. I walked past a mirror in my yoga studio once wearing only a thong and caught sight of my butt in the mirror. Although small, it was beginning to soften and sag with age and I was horrified. I decided there and then to fill the skin with muscle. I bought a gym programme, started it the next day, and stood on stage less than 12 months later.

17 Best health/lifestyle advice you were ever given and would pass on to others?

You can’t out train a bad diet. When someone is failing to achieve a fitness or body goal it’s 99 per cent of the time because they are not consistent in the kitchen. Achieving the body of your dreams is 90 per cent diet and 10 per cent exercise.

18 Who inspires you or who would you try to emulate in terms of fitness / attitude to life?

This is a tough one because I have many people I look up to. There’s no one person who really inspires me, but I do follow other fitness models on Instagram who have amazing physiques and it pushes me to keep going every day.

19 What time do you normally get to bed and do you get enough sleep?

I try to be in bed by 10.30 and asleep by 11pm every night.

20 Would you say you have a healthy attitude towards your own mortality?

Yes, I literally live the life of my dreams. My company is set to turn over seven figures in its first year of business, I work in an area that I am passionate about, I spend every day with my kids and we travel a lot and visit amazing places. If I were to die tomorrow, I would have zero regrets.