January Jones covers the March issue of Shape. I’ve always gone back and forth on January, and I’m currently in the “she’s actually kind of cool” camp. Her work in Mad Men was stellar, and she’s good at Instagram and nowadays, she lives a pretty quiet life with her eight-year-old son Xander. January seems to be promoting her charitable work in this interview, which made me go to her IMDB to see if she’s actually working as an actress these days…she was in the series The Politician last year, and this year she’s in a Netflix series called Spinning Out, which is about ice-skaters. Huh. Anyway, you can read her Shape interview here, and here are some highlights:
Period pants: “Public opinion doesn’t matter to me. Yesterday I went to a birthday party with my son, and I wore humongous red sweatpants because I had my period. My sister said, ‘Are you actually wearing those out?’ I thought about it for a moment, but I still wore them. Who cares? They’re my period pants!”
What she did instead of training for X-Men: “It’s not that I wasn’t active. As kids, my two sisters were runners, I played tennis, and we all swam. But on a regular basis I wouldn’t work out, ever. Even when I was filming X-Men and they had trainers for all of us, I would lie and say I was exercising in my hotel room, when actually I was watching Friends and having full tea service.”
Being a single mom: “Being a mother is definitely the best. And then there’s balancing motherhood with the other thing I love, which is my work. Some days obviously are easier than others, but I feel as if I’m able to do both fairly well.”
Private Pilates classes: “After I had my son, Xander, I wanted to feel strong because my body had changed so much. As he got bigger and I was hauling around a 20- or 30-pound toddler, my lower back gave out and I saw my shoulders starting to curl and hunch. I wanted to do something for my posture and core strength. Two or three years ago I started doing barre classes, and after that I took regular private Pilates lessons. Then a friend told me about Lagree Pilates. I’ve been doing it two to four times a week for the past year now, and I’ve gained weight because I’ve put on muscle. I’ve gone up a size in clothes, but I feel like I look better naked.
She doesn’t diet: “I don’t deprive myself of anything. If I want something—steak, a bagel—I’ll eat it. There’s no diet or strict set of rules. Last winter, I started drinking celery juice every day, and I’ve seen amazing results in my energy, digestion, and skin and how I sleep. I have that in the morning, then I take my vitamins and drink coffee. I don’t get hungry until around 10 a.m., but since I usually do Lagree at 9:30, I’ll make myself eat a banana beforehand so I don’t get too shaky. Then I have a MacroBar afterward and eat lunch around 11:30—usually salad, soup, or a sandwich.
She’s very organized: “I’m a very organized person. I feel sane and calm when I know everything is in its place. I always have a list for the day. When I get to check something off, it’s the best thing ever. At work, when they say action, I can become someone else and be crazy and messy and erratic, and that feels amazing and therapeutic. But at home, the domestic aspect of my life is very important to feeling balanced. I love doing laundry.
I’m a checklist kind of person, but I’m next-level in that I can just get that dopamine hit of “checking something off my list” without even writing anything down. Just the reward of knowing that I just completed one of my “tasks” is enough. And honestly, her non-diet doesn’t sound too crazy. It sounds like she’s found a workout she likes, so she does it a lot and she eats mostly healthy food when she’s hungry. I might have to try celery juice too.
Cover courtesy of Shape, additional photos courtesy of WENN.
I actually like her. She was great as Betty Draper and seems to live a quite life as a single mother without getting in our faces. She is raising her son alone and is a working mom but she dies not make that a big deal or a PR strategy going around asking for praise. I am with her on not overdoing it, I sometimes wear my sweatpants to kid’s runs too and won’t get dolled up or put any make up anytime I go out. Is the celery juice a real deal? Might try it out too
I’ve heard a lot of good things about celery juice, but my friends who do it say that the benefits only come if you drink fresh celery juice every morning- blending a whoooole bunch of stalks. Buying pre-made juice doesn’t work.
What’s the benefit over just eating celery
celery juice is legit. i blend it and drink it with the pulp still in it bc i’m too lazy to strain that shit out.
i dont’ tend to drink it in winter bc it’s cold but it is my fave juice.
Thanks for the advice, ladies! So you just blend celery or do you add anything. I will have to do it myself, just dropped by the grocery store and could not find the pre made one.
To anyone who wants to jump on the celery juice fad beware that it will be expensive. I don’t do the glass of celery juice every morning but I do make fresh green juice/smoothie a few times a week that incorporates fresh celery along with greens (usually spinach or kale), cucumber, an apple, and frozen mango or pineapple chunks. I use a whole bunch of celery in my juice and I doubt that on its own, it would produce a full glass. In my neck of the woods, cheapest I’ve found a bunch of celery is $1.49, sometimes over $2.00 for organic. I think it would take two bunches to get a full glass of juice, multiply that by 7 days per week and you’re talking a $21 dollar a week celery juice habit. Just fair warning…
Yeah, that’s the reason why I don’t do those smoothies, too expensive and too much of a hassle. I was trying to get my ex to eat breakfast and making smoothies out of frozen fruit and I had to stop. It was just too damn expensive
@Joanna, I have an inexpensive juicer (centrifugal not masticating, which apparently works better for greens) and I juice the celery, cucumber, apple and kale and/or spinach (pretty much an entire bunch if bought at farmer’s market to make a reasonable amount- 1/2 a bag if bought bagged), Then I put it in the blender with the frozen mango or pineapple and a banana so yes it can be a bit labor-intensive, esp. since the juicer has so many parts that need to be cleaned. I dread to think how much I spend on 1-2 glasses but do enjoy the taste.
The celery juice is recommended by the Medical Medium. If you don’t know who that is, his dead grandmother appeared to him and recommended he (and therefore you) drink it.
Celery is mainly water.
Just drink the same amount of water and tell yourself someones dead grandmother told you to drink it, or whatever else you need for the placebo effect.
I’m with her with those period pants!
Good for her for being able to lie about exercising and still be a size employable in Hollywood.
And some of us just can’t have everything they want. For me, just psychologically, moderation is a lot harder than abstinence.
There is a difference between “everything you want” and true moderation though. Suggesting everything you want is kind of the mentality of bingeing if you ask me? And that is not healthy for sure! Trust me, I come from a background of a severe eating disorder (anorexia – in all of my 20s and even in my early 30s). I am 50 now and completely recovered from that. And it did take me a long time to get “normal” again about food and not associate things as bad or good and just listen to my body again. I think a lot of us are not even capable of that anymore. We eat for a lot of other reasons, emotional triggers, or stress, etc. But yes, true moderation is just listening to your body’s cues and hungers. And, sure, once in awhile it is fine to indulge, as she said in a steak or dessert or whatever. But if you concentrate on healthy eating and get some exercise and treat your body with respect most of the time – you should be fine. And the other thing for me, is to not to cut out huge food groups. All in this no carb, or no protein (like plant based diets)…etc. I am sure they work for some people and don’t come after me please haha! But trust me, I spent almost a decade starving myself by cutting out major food groups and it completely wasted and devastated my body, causing me to lose my period, lose bone density and I almost was not able to have children. That is not healthy.
Anyway, I could relate to what she said about the moderate, healthy eating. Much more so than some celebrities/people promoting diets which are much more restrictive and cutting out major food groups. Just my humble opinion 🙂
For me it’s the opposite. I can relate to someone like Carrie Underwood much more than to someone who says just listen to your body. I find it much harder to eat just a piece of chocolate than no chocolate at all. We’re all different and that moderation and intuitive eating mantra is not for everyone.
Well, we are all different. She does what works for her.
I believe her. I feel like I have the same body type and I pretty much follow the same no rules diet and since having two kids, I do almost no set exercise besides walking a lot and running after them and I easily maintain my slender weight. Admittedly I don’t huge quantities. I’m quite easily satiated. But I don’t say no to anything that looks amazing. I really do think some people are lucky with certain body types & metabolisms.
She said she does pilates two to four times a week so I don’t know where the idea that she doesn’t exercise comes from?
I tried Pilates a few weeks ago and I was soooo bored after 30min. I sweat easily , but it was the first time in a class I was actually cold. I prefer yoga or really intensive class. I had so much hopes for Pilates since a lot of celebrities seem to like it
I mix Pilates into a cardio workout for that reason. I’ll do a half hour run, a half hour of Pilates while I’m warmed up and sweating, then I’ll get on a stationary bike for a half hour, then do Pilates as a cool down. I can’t do it as the workout in and of itself. No way. Not enough.
Oh that’s a great idea!! Thanks, I’ll try that again with some cardio next time!
I think it definitely depends on the instructor. I’ve taken boring classes like that, and I’ve also had a couple instructors that made me work as hard as any strength or cardio class. I stuck with one for eight years and I think it was the fittest I’ve ever been.
Wow 8 years !! That’s amazing I wish I could find a sport I’d as much
I have been doing Pilates on and off for about 15 years, even though I’ve always found mat Pilates to be kind of boring. I do it for awhile and then move on to something else, but I tend to come back because in general I prefer it to yoga. Reformer Pilates is the best, much more challenging and that’s how I get the actual results, but where I live (NYC) reformer classes are too pricey for me. I’d love to try Lagree, which is done with reformer-like machines, but the studio near me is also too pricey at the moment.
I’ll check Reformer Pilates!! I was so disappointed lol thanks for the point of view
I’ve been doing Reformer Pilates for quite a while and it really is a workout. If you look at it from the outside, it looks too easy. But it’s actually harder for me than a lot of other workouts because you use a lot of the muscles that you don’t normally use so much. It’s way more of a workout for my abs than anything else I’ve done. It doesn’t make you look cut but rather, it makes you look leaner. I’m overweight plus have a greater tendency to gain muscle than others. So when I’m overweight and lifting weights for example, I can look bigger than when I was not working out. Whereas with Pilates, I feel it makes me look leaner, even though I’m still overweight. And with the machines, you have more resistance than with doing the mat Pilates. I started out with mat Pilates, decided to try Reformer Pilates and didn’t go back. Although it’s a stretch on the budget, I figure I will cut back somewhere else. Idk what the normal going rate for it is but I found a small studio with a new instructor and it’s probably cheaper than others. It’s about $30 a class. I’m on an autopay program, one class a week, $115 a month. Sorry for the long post 😊
I have to have written lists even to clean house and that feeling of checking something off my list is the best and checking off the last thing? Woo! It makes me so happy I sometimes do a happy dance. I’ve always liked January Jones for her work in Mad Men but never really followed her private life. Now I love her a little.
I also do Lagree Pilates. Best decision I ever made. It’s tough but low impact. It truly saved me after fibroid removal surgery and ivf. I’ve never felt stronger.
She seems to have phased out of her homewrecker phase and her thing with Will Forte seemed like a good thing for her. She’s not the best actress in the world – I think the story always made Betty into a much more interesting character than JJ’s acting (can you think of a major Betty ‘speech’? especially in comparison to Joan or Peggy) but the light comedy thing seems to be working out for her.
Yes, I can. When she found out about Don’s identity, her work was stellar. She was fantastic on Mad Men.
She might have been good on Mad Men but her acting was cringe-worthy in X-Men.
Like, I still remember how bad she was in the scene where she was cutting that mirror.
I thought her performance in Mad Men was highly unappreciated. She could say so much with just a look or a gesture. An incredible and subtle performance, imo.
Absolutely. She’s no “dumb blonde”, JJ. Great actress.
Celery juice is disgusting. But I hate celery so that might color my perception.
Yeah, that’s not how I’d like to start my day. Basically she doesn’t really eat until lunch, which is fine. If you’re not hungry, you’re not hungry.
She has definitely become cooler in my book too, that’s for sure. I follow her on IG and her posts are a fun mix of glam shots, several throwbacks (her captions make me laugh a lot) and the very occasional ad.
I N T U I T I V E E A T I N G
If you are interested, please Google it and let it free you from any sort of Diet or Rules. Your body and mind know whats the best for you anyway, so allow them to guide you, not some rules you have a hard time applying on all the time.
@Tee – yes that is what I was referring to in my comment above ^^^^
Listen I know it might not be for everyone at first. But we are born with the natural ability to know when we are hungry and know when we are full. But all of that can get very messed up with society’s messages about body image, childhood issues, all kinds of things. But our bodies have the natural abilities (hunger, and the feeling of being satiated) to let us know when to fuel it. Restrictive dieting and cutting out major food groups, IMO, just is not the way to go. It sets you up for craving those things, and if you do lose weight by restricting yourself, you will undoubtedly gain it back when you include those things back into your diet.
If I ate whatever I wanted it’d be cake wine and pasta waayy too often lol
I think I’m misunderstanding intuitive eating but all the rules Carrie Underwood mentions sounds like a lack of trust with her body and needing excessive control IMO
So we meant the exact same thing, I just spelled it out. 🙂 Your descriptions are exactly what intuitive eating is all about – listening to our own bodies because they know best. And if your body wants to eat pasta everyday, like one comment said here.. well I think if you gave your body the chance to do so, I think it would soon crave other things too, that is all our intuition is about – to get to know ourselves better.
@Meg, if you allowed yourself cake and wine whenever you wanted, you’d eventually get bored of them and your cake and wine consumption would taper off.
I gave up dieting over a year ago and it really is amazing when you stop paying attention to wanting to hit a certain weight or stay under a certain number of calories, how your hunger cues and cravings seem to change. I’ve actually turned into one of those people who eats two squares of chocolate and is done.
Betty Draper was simply the perfect role for JJ. She was actually great in spinning out as a stage mom with bipolar. The show was soapy goodness, but sadly no one watched and it’s cancelled
I never heard about Spinning Out or I would have watched it! I wonder why Netflix didn’t promote it?
I watched it, It was very very good. Her and the daughter were both really believable in the show. I’m bummed to hear it’s cancelled. 🙁
noooo spinning out was AMAZING how can they cancel it? I loved it.
Certainly if “whatever I want” to eat included celery juice I’d probably be skinny too lol.
And she didn’t have to exercise in her 30s to stay thin and now after having a baby and turning 40, she does…yep, that’s pretty much how it goes.
Plus, she’s probably a naturally thin person. Some people are lucky like that.
Actually I love freshly made celery juice, I enjoyed it WAY before it became such a trend, my grandma in Europe told me to do it to have lovely skin when I was 14 years old.
It makes my skin glow from inside out like nothing else ever did.
My mom and grandma used to tell me growing up, ” there are no greater accessories in the world than good health, great skin, nice hair and a toned body “, no amount of shoes or clothes or make-up will be better.
And, boy were they right.
January, to each his own, I eat vegan and it really works for me, my best friend is flexitarian, so she eats vegan Monday to Friday, but on Saturday she has 1 serving of dairy and on Sunday 1 serving of meat and it works for her health and the planet. So she is happy not depriving herself, but also not indulging and causing too much trouble in regards to climate change.
Her “eating whatever she wants” looks like most people’s version of a diet.
THIS!!
I ascribe to the same philosophy as JJ and eat intuitively. I don’t diet or restrict. I crave vegetables and healthy foods and have always eaten small portions without thinking about it. I also have a serious addiction to flavoured lattes and can’t watch TV at night without a bag of candy. For me, it balances out in the end. I think having a fast metabolism has allowed me to develop very relaxed eating habits that will probably catch up with me in my 40s. I also exercise 3 days a week. It’s all moderate and not a strict regime, otherwise I’d feel too much pressure/stress about it.
Because I’ve never had to, I would find it impossible to diet. I once had to cut out dairy while breastfeeding and the second I could have it again, I ate all the m&ms for weeks.
As you say, you’re not 40 yet! Things will change; you may not need to diet, but you may need to watch what you eat a little more closely–that candy eating while watching TV will need to change, for example.
So true. I am also one of those who never had to exercise or diet, but things changed (not drastically but they did) when I hit 40. Luckily I came across IF (intermittent fasting) and that has been a life saver for me. I still don’t have to diet and can eat 90% what I desire, also doing light exercise. But I realize that there have been changes.
Spinning Out on Netflix is excellent!
She plays a single mom with bipolar raising two girls who are both competitive skaters. The story and the acting get better with each episode.
I love every single thing she said – esp about having full tea service instead of exercising lmao
One thing I’ve always liked about JJ is that she seems to be one of the few women who does , and says, whatever tf she wants despite the hyper judgmental industry she works in. There’s an element of no bullshit to her.
Enjoy it, JJ. GI disorder forced me on a hyper restricted diet where even a lot of healthy foods are off the table, and now I know constant, endless tragedy lol.
@ Veronica S-I feel for you. Currently going through multiple testing to figure out why I can’t eat without severe pain, bloating, nausea and several ER trips.
I still wonder who her baby’s daddy is….
lol I know, right? She was much more interesting when she was in the gossip news.
Totally! After Mad Men, she obviously has led a far quieter single mom life. Whomever the baby daddy is, methinks it must have been a lot of drama.
She’s great in Spinning Out. I didn’t even realize it was her.
Celery is a good source of fibre but it has such small amounts of any vitamins and minerals that you would have to juice a ton of it to get any benefits from one glass. Starting your day with a glass of water just seems more reasonable, if you’re looking for something to make your skin glow and your digestive tract work better.