Molly Sims explains why she's all about 'owning it'

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'The View': Molly Sims' Secrets to Getting Swimsuit Ready
'The View': Molly Sims' Secrets to Getting Swimsuit Ready

By: Gibson Johns

A couple of years ago, after giving birth to her son, Brooks, Molly Sims was in a predicament. After losing almost all of the weight she gained during her pregnancy, the supermodel was frustrated that she couldn't lose the last bit of stubborn weight she had worked so hard to make disappear.

To be sure, part of Sims' desire to lose those last couple of pounds came in part from societal and cultural pressures -- unfortunately, it's essentially an expectation at this point for women to lose all of their pregnancy weight. But part of it also came from within Sims herself. As she puts it, "the better and happier you are, the better parent you're going to be," and, for her, being happy means looking and feeling good.

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With sit-ups not doing the trick, and a slight fear of going under the knife preventing her from surgery of any kind, Sims was stuck. That is, until her dermatologist recommended the fat freezing treatment called CoolSculpting. Despite an initial hesitancy -- Why am I doing this? she asked herself -- Sims went ahead with the treatment and had an amazing experience.

At the time, Sims' decision was met with skepticism, but the irony is that, now, it's totally en vogue. (No, literally, it's in Vogue this month.) The mother of two was ahead of the curve, though, having completely owned her decision since revealing it in her 2015 book, The Everyday Supermodel.

We talked exclusively to Molly Sims about her experience with CoolSculpting, scheduling in "me time," ditching the scale and why it's so important for her to use her platform as a celebrity to spread messages about positivity.

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Check out our full conversation with Molly Sims below:

You've talked before about how difficult it can be to balance life as a mother and a wife with your career, while also leaving some space for "me time." How do you possibly find that time for yourself?

I literally have to schedule it! I just went to New York by myself. It's hard, but it's really about that kind of work-hard play-hard thing. When you're with [your kids], you should really be with them and when you're off, really take that time to enjoy yourself. You have to schedule that time for yourself [to make sure it happens].

For you, it's almost about separating those two worlds sometimes to keep you going?

In a weird way, yeah. It's important. The better and happier you are, the better parent you're going to be. If you're constantly run down -- which most of us are -- and constantly juggling, take even just 15 or 30 minutes for yourself to have that little bit of a moment. Today, for example, I got up 45 minutes early before my kids, did all of my emails, read a DailyMail article that I shouldn't have read and just had that me time! It's so great. Then [my kids] woke up, and I was like, "I'm ready to see you guys."

Why is staying fit so important to you?

It keeps my mind healthy, it keeps me feeling good, it keeps the engine running, it makes me feel like I'm less stressed. When I haven't exercised, I get more stressed. It's weird, but it's a release that, for me, I feel like I need.

You've talked previously about "ditching the scale" when it comes to watching your weight and trying to reach a goal. What do you have against scales?!

Never buy a scale, because then you become obsessed with a number, but that number is always going to fluctuate. It can go up it, can go down, but that could just come from drinking a glass of water. You're better off -- instead of becoming obsessed with it -- having a pair of jeans or a skirt pants that, if you fit into it, you feel good.

It's funny, this morning, I have on these old-ass AG Jeans on from my early years of modeling that I'm completely sucked into. They're cutting off my circulation! But I am into them, Gibson. I'm sitting at my desk in my office in my AG Jeans from years ago.

And you should be very proud of that!

You know what, I am! I had to jump 14 times to get in them -- my toddler was like what are you doing -- but I'm in them! [Laughs]

You're not shy about the fact that you turned to CoolSculpting to lose the last bit of weight after having your son, Brooks. Why have you chosen to be so open about using the treatment?

I went about it all very honestly, because I wanted to be honest with the women and men who read [my initial quote about it in my book The Everyday Supermodel] and I didn't think anything of it; it was just something that I did. But then [CoolSculpting] came to me about six months later and said, "Did you really do it and have a great experience?" I was like, Yeah! I really did it! It's interesting because it's literally in Vogue this month and for me it really worked. I didn't have to go under, I had no downtime and it's FDA-approved! And there wasn't any amount of sit-ups that was going to [make that weight disappear].

Someone asked me the other day if I felt like I was cheating, and I was like, Yes! And I'm going to cheat away! I'm owning it, and that's ultimately why I ended up speaking out about it. There's this false sense from the girls out here [in Hollywood] that just think this [body] is God-given, that it's natural. It's not! Some of it is not. I work really hard: I work out really hard, and I watch what I eat all the time.

Was any part of you hesitant about opting to do the treatment?

I was hesitant because I was thinking to myself, Is this going to do something bad to me? Is this not going to work? Why am I doing this? I didn't want to go under the knife, because what if something happened?! Here I would've been getting an inch of fat sucked out of me and, to me, it wasn't worth it. My dermatologist told me about four years ago, "I know it's new, but I'm telling you it works!" And it did! I had a really good experience. And it wouldn't have come off any other way.

At the same time, though, there is still a general stigma around any sort of treatment or procedure, whether it requires going under the knife or not.

Of course! Listen, I'm going to be honest with you: I always worry. Even when I take certain vitamins I think, Oh God, what is this going to do to me? But then I think a little more and I'm like, You know? I'm going to try it. What's the worst that could happen? I don't smoke, I don't binge, I don't cheat in other ways, so why not try this?

But you do own it, which is completely refreshing. Whereas other people would feel the need to explicitly explain their decision.

Totally! I was a model for 20 something years, and I've never taken a diet pill my whole life. I worked hard and busted my ass, but there's always that stigma within us where we don't want to cheat. But, whatever -- in a way, I'm like, Screw it!

How do you suppress or escape that negative energy that is inescapable in the public eye?

It's interesting because as I've gotten older, I've found that I really don't like the negative energy around me. I can really be affected by people's energy, and it's usually in a bad way. I feel it, and I've always been that way. That's why I love good energy around me. I like when I feel good, and I don't even go there with the negative.

I will tell you one thing I do differently [now], though: I don't wait for a problem anymore. I get it, I finish it and I get over it so that it's not lingering. I had something recently where I had an issue with a friend, and I had to write this e-mail and I couldn't write it and I couldn't write it and I thought, I'm not saying it well enough. But it was holding over me, and I didn't like that feeling! So I don't even go there with it anymore. I don't like the buzz, so I try to completely shut that noise out.

Lastly, can you speak a little bit about why it's so important for you to use your platform to spread messages of such positivity?

That's why I wrote my book [The Everyday Supermodel]. It's all about positivity. The last chapter of my book is, "How to make that shit happen." I didn't feel good about myself for 20 years, and do I feel great about myself now? No, but I work on it every single day. I never wake up and think, Oh my God, I'm amazing! But I'm working on that, and I also surround myself with really great people and that is what is the most important.

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