Victoria's Sceret Model Alessandra Ambrosio: My Body Is Better After Having Kids

Victoria's Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio is not about to lie and say you can get your exact pre-baby body back after having a kid. "Your body will never go back to exactly what it was before pregnancy, whatever people tell you. It can't," the mother of two tells Net-a-Porter's The Edit. "But I think I have a better body now than before I had kids. It's partly because I work out, whereas before I didn't, but also to do with the shape—it just looks more formed now and I feel better about it than I did." For good reason:

In Brazil, curves are worshipped, she says. "It comes from that carnival culture, where women will parade around barely wearing a thing—just a tiny bikini, G-string or feathers. Every woman's body is spectacular there, not because it's perfect but because they're loving life. It's never been about having a Barbie-like physique in Brazil but having the right curves, whatever your proportions or size."

Ale did have to go on an extreme diet to get back into shape for the Victoria's Secret runway show right after giving birth. "After having Anja I only had three months to lose all the weight [before doing the 2008 Victoria's Secret show] and I was on this 1,200-calorie-a-day meal-delivery service that I hated. I couldn't do that again." Show prep generally "is so stressful…there's so much pressure on us all—not just in terms of shape—and the energy gets sucked out of you, so my favorite thing to do afterwards is dance all night long."

When she's not about to do the show, her diet is pretty balanced. She doesn't cut out any food groups: "I'm all about moderation and eating something different every day. Obviously I try not to splurge on pasta, but if I'm back in Brazil where everything is pasta- or bread-based—and so yummy—I'll eat whatever I want, then go back to lots of salads and chicken or fish with veg as soon as I'm back in L.A."

She eats sweets and alcohol because "whenever I start to diet, everything goes downhill. So if I want a little bite of dark chocolate on a plane or a cocktail with friends on the weekend, I'll have it. In fact, I'll drink a glass of red wine with dinner most nights, and two or three times a week I'll have a cup of tea and a cupcake with Anja, who's as obsessed with red velvet as I am. My son [three-year-old Noah] will just pick the icing off the top."

And yes, she's had her binges: "It started when I first began making my own money at 15. I'd go to the supermarket and fill my bag with cookies, ice cream and yogurt: everything sweet you can imagine. And there were times when I would eat a whole packet of cookies. But then I taught myself not to do that, basically by reminding myself how horrible it felt the last time. Oh, and of course I would lose my job, so that was another incentive."

Exercise wasn't always part of her life. "In my family, no one ever worked out. It wasn't until I did my first Victoria's Secret show that I started exercising...now that it's a healthy, normal part of my daily routine."

Read her full interview with The Edit here.

From: Harper's BAZAAR US