It was the era of heroin chic. When iconic supermodel Kate Moss was at the peak of her modeling career in the 1990s, she was often photographed in clubs with a cigarette, a far cry from today’s trends of Pilates and matcha lattes.

So when actress Ellie Bamber came to play Moss in the recently released movie “Moss & Freud,” she had her work cut out for her. How to create Moss’s supermodel physique without resorting to unhealthy methods?

He worked with trainer Luke Worthington.

Bamber, who also starred in “Red, White & Royal Blue” and “William Tell,” worked with film and television personal trainer Luke Worthington to prepare to portray Moss, a process that ultimately took years due to several delays in filming.

Worthington and Bamber began working together in January 2022 and focused on preparing for the film beginning in December of that year, hoping to film in summer 2023. Filming was postponed until spring/summer 2024. They also had to deal with a broken ankle, but they groomed Bamber to play Moss with a striking resemblance.

“Ultimately, it wasn’t going to be a perfect comparison, but we wanted to try to get as close to Kate as possible, but it was really important to both of us that I stay really healthy,” Bamber told Business Insider. “One of the goals was also to feel good, because I’m quite naked in the film and that’s daunting in itself, so I just wanted to feel really in tune with my body and really confident.”

In 2017, Kate Moss told The Guardian that she never ate salads or went to the gym. “Ellie was playing someone who maybe wasn’t too health conscious at that particular stage in her life, but compromising her health would never be something we would consider,” Worthington said.

This is how they made it possible.

High intensity strength training

Bamber performed high-intensity strength training at least three times a week, sometimes as many as five or six, but the extra sessions were a plus. They typically ramped up training before supposedly starting filming and then returned to a more sustainable routine when things got delayed.

Worthington had Bamber work on three sets consisting of an upper body exercise, a lower body exercise, and a core exercise, back to back. This means blood rushes from one area of ​​the body to another, improving cardiovascular fitness and developing strength.

“For example, she does a set of squats and a set of push-ups. If you do them alone, they are strengthening exercises. If you do them back to back, there are the metabolic demands, the caloric demand increases exponentially,” Worthington said. “So by being smart in how we grouped the exercises, it meant we were able to be pretty efficient with the workouts and not keep her in the gym for hours. She’s basically getting free cardio.”

When Bamber fell off a horse while filming a different movie and broke his ankle, training had to get a little more creative. In addition to seeing a physical therapist, Bamber would go to the gym with crutches and a boot on, and Worthington would have him do modified exercises that targeted the rest of his body.

Lose weight without counting calories

Strength training was also an important part of helping Bamber maintain muscle mass while sculpting a supermodel physique through a gentle calorie deficit.

“I love pasta and I still want to be able to go out to dinner with my friends,” Bamber said, so she didn’t want to follow a restrictive diet plan.

With that in mind, he didn’t have to count calories or weigh himself. They used photographs to track Bamber’s progress and aimed for a calorie deficit of no more than 10% (without strict tracking). Worthington suggested freely measuring portion sizes with your hands. The goal was to make slow, gradual changes, he said.

“Slow and steady wins the race, and we communicated all the time about how Ellie’s energy, mood and concentration were, so we could see if we were pushing too hard,” Worthington added.

I often had smoothies for breakfast.

When I needed a weekend off, I had it.

“The harder it is for someone, the less easy it is for them to accomplish it,” Worthington said. “So if we make one change at a time and try to keep them manageable, you have a better chance of sticking with it, which means you get the result you want.”

The nutritional strategy evolved: For most of the preparation, Bamber tried to eat six servings of cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli and cauliflower) per day, meaning he filled up on nutritious, high-volume, low-calorie foods. The focus was on adding, rather than subtracting.

I often drank a breakfast smoothie that consisted of vegetables, fruits, protein, and flax seeds. “It was an easy way to get a lot of nutrients and a good amount of protein at the start of the day without excessive calories,” Worthington said. It then evolved into a yogurt bowl with skyr and similar ingredients.

While recovering from her ankle fracture, she intentionally shifted to consuming a calorie surplus with lots of protein to promote healing for six weeks.

Later in the process, Bamber began intermittent fasting while maintaining flexibility. If filming started early, I would eat earlier to have enough energy.

“It was about finding a balance between trying as hard as I could, but also knowing that if I needed to back off, that was okay,” Bamber said.