MasterChef’s Melissa Leong reveals the secret to maintaining her slender physique

As a food critic, Melissa Leong gets paid to eat – but incredibly, she still manages to maintain a slim physique.

And the 38-year-old MasterChef judge revealed the secret to her figure in a resurfaced interview with body+soul’s Healthy-ish podcast in November 2018.

In the interview, Melissa confessed she had been blessed with a fast metabolism throughout her twenties, which is when she first started working as a food writer.  

‘I thought my metabolism was fine – I can eat everything, I can do all the things,’ she confessed.

‘I would have these massive eating sessions with my chef friends where we’d go out for a whole day and eat all of the things, and it never occurred to me once that all of my friends are dudes who are six-foot-something or 150 kilos – I would just match them to the toe.’ 

But after reaching her thirties, Melissa said she noticed her metabolism had started to slow down, prompting her to make some lifestyle changes.  

‘My metabolism wasn’t the same as what it was and I didn’t look the same anymore, and that was a really sobering thing to realise,’ she said.

When she’s not eating out at restaurants for work, Melissa said she consumes ‘really simple things’ on her days off, sticking to basics like meat and vegetables. 

She’s also spoken about her love of Pilates, describing it as her ‘go-to’ exercise in an interview with WHO magazine earlier this month.  

‘I’ve really missed my Reformer Pilates sessions during lockdown because I’m someone who likes to workout with a lot of toys!’ she said. 

‘But since I’ve been spending more time at home I’ve really embraced mat Pilates.

‘It’s amazing that you can use your own body weight to exercise, and it’s something everyone can do with no need for a huge budget.’