Elizabeth Smart is in her bodybuilding era and couldn’t be more proud of of what she’s achieved.
“I always felt like there was a way I needed to present myself,” Smart, 38, exclusively reveals in her Us Weekly cover story, on newsstands now. “Bodybuilding has helped free me.”
Smart has been in the public eye since she was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home at age 14 and held captive for nine months before being rescued in 2003. After overcoming the harrowing ordeal, Smart has rebuilt her life as a wife, mother and advocate for sexual violence victims.
In April, Smart stunned social media followers when she shared a photo of herself in a blue bikini and high heels, revealing her dramatic transformation as a competitive bodybuilder.
While fans were shocked by Smart’s new look and passion for fitness, she tells Us she was drawn to the challenge. “I’ve always liked having a goal from when I studied music in school to then marathon running and wanting to improve my time,” she says. “Having a very clear, defined goal with a due date, something to work towards really appealed to me that way.”
Smart reveals she trains five to six days a week for 45 minutes, focusing on specific muscle groups and lifting as heavily as possible. “It’s good to have a coach around [to] spot me or [say], ‘No, you can do heavier,’” says Smart, who previously revealed she can deadlift holding a 65-pound dumbbell in each hand. “It’s a lot of work,” she adds, “but I didn’t know just how much work it was gonna be.”
Smart, who shares children Chloe, 11, James, 9, and Olivia, 7, with husband Matthew Gilmour, notes that she also tries to get 10,000 steps a day. “So cleaning my house, walking my dog, stepping on the treadmill … however, I get 10,000 steps in a day, that’s typically my goal,” she explains.
While bodybuilding requires plenty of focus, Smart tells Us that it’s also given her more time to spend with her kids.
“Running took up hours and hours and hours, and then I was exhausted the rest of the day,” she recalls of her previous marathon training. “My long training runs got to a point where they were just so long that once I finished them, I didn’t want to do anything the rest of the day.”
Smart says the shorter exercise regimen affords her the ability to be “much more involved, much more present” with her kids. “I get them up in the morning. I get them ready, send them to school and then go work out,” she shares. “I would say it affects them minimally, at least until the days leading up to the show. Show day, I am 100 percent present.”
When asked what’s the most mentally and physically demanding about bodybuilding training, she doesn’t hesitate — her eating habits. “I really enjoy food. I like food,” she admits. “Eating will always be, physically, mentally, the hardest.”
Smart — who says she’s lost roughly 30 pounds since she started her bodybuilding journey in January 2025 — tells Us that her diet is also something that has had to shift to better perform.
“The last two weeks, going into a competition is exactly what my coach says. Whatever she’s told me to eat, there is no varying from that,” Smart says. “At that point, I feel like I really am on the countdown. I’m like, ‘I can see it, it’s right there.’”
In the week leading up to her most recent competition in April, where she placed first in her division, Smart estimates she was eating around 2,500 calories a day. “It was so much rice,” she notes, adding that she stuck to chicken, ground turkey, rice cakes, peanut butter and honey.
Smart notes that apart from her strict, clean-eating plan, her prep involves a “weekly check-in” that includes taking photos in her bathing suit from the “front, side, back” and taking measurements of her biceps, bust, waist, hips, thighs and calves. She also has to do a weigh-in prior to competing.
Smart’s trainer reviews all of her information and then sends her “a meal plan for that week,” which often includes protein, carbs and fats. “She will just adjust that as she feels my physique needs, and I can macro match,” Smart tells Us, explaining, “If I wanted ground turkey instead of chicken, I could do that.”
(Macro matching is a strategy that “tailors your daily intake of macronutrients,” which are proteins, carbohydrates and fats, to “match” your daily activity level and fitness goals, according to Medium.)
Despite needing to be in peak physical shape, Smart treats herself when she’s in between competitions.
“My husband and I went to Mexico shortly thereafter,” she reveals, “and I think I indulged for about a week.”
For more on Smart’s bodybuilding journey and current life phase pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
