While no other city’s shows—or fashion magazines or advertising campaigns—adopted similar guidelines, the controversy did draw attention to an important issue. And it quite possibly helped increase the demand for so-called fitness models, who bear little resemblance to the abnormally tall, unnaturally thin women favored by fashion designers. “Fitness models need to be real icons of health, people who live a healthy lifestyle and have the bodies to show for it,” says Topher DésPrés, director of Silver Model Management (silvermodels.com).

Meet two models who buck the fashion world trend by focusing on staying fit, eating well, and showing the world an image that radiates good health.

Lindsay Messina

Age: 23

Height: 5 feet 3 inches

Weight: 115 pounds

BMI: 20.4

To look at Lindsay Messina now, you would never believe that she’d ever struggled with her weight. But a few years ago, Messina carried an extra 25 pounds on her petite 5-foot-3-inch frame. A job at an all-women’s health club inspired her to shed excess weight and get into shape. “I got my personal training certification and also started teaching aerobics classes,” she says, “and those classes really helped whip me into shape.” Such great shape, in fact, that Messina entered—and won—a fitness competition. At the event, she met the person who is now her manager, and a new career in modeling was born.

Now Messina divides her time between teaching, training, and modeling. Somehow, she still finds time for her own rigorous workout schedule of regular running and weight training. “I like to mix it up so I don’t get bored,” she says. So she’ll jog several miles one day, find a hill and do sprint repeats up and down another day, and squeeze in two or three sessions in the gym every week to lift weights. And that’s on top of teaching at least five classes a week. “I don’t like to look at my classes as my own workout,” she says. “When I’m teaching, it’s all about my students.”

Lindsay’s daily diet:

“I don’t starve myself. I eat six times a day, but I keep it really clean. My motto is ‘If it swims, grows or flies, I’ll eat it.’ So that means skipping processed and packaged foods.”

The weekly indulgence:

“Every Sunday I give myself permission to splurge on a favorite food—like pizza, Oreos, or waffles.”

What those numbers on the scale mean to her:

“I’ve got a lot of muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. When my clients focus on their weight, I tell them to forget about that number and look at how their clothes fit, how they feel, how much energy they have. I say, just throw out the scale!”

Jeremy Shore

Age: 32

Height: 5 feet 11 inches

Weight: 175 pounds

BMI: 24.4

Fitness has always played a major role in Jeremy Shore’s life. He played soccer as a teenager and even went to college on a soccer scholarship. All that activity (plus a lot of time spent toning with weights at the school gym), paid off. On a whim he sent a few photos of himself in his boxer shorts off to an underwear competition, and ended up as one of the finalists. That led to a post-college year of touring the country and hanging out in shopping malls, signing posters in his underwear.

Despite his somewhat accidental segue into modeling—scoring jobs posing for clients ranging from JC Penney to Hugo Boss—Shore continued his education. “People were always asking me for training advice, so I decided to study and get certified in personal training,” he says. For Shore, the combination of personal training and modeling was the perfect pairing. “Fitness is a priority in my life, and I always thought of staying in shape as part of my job. It also helps me stay balanced since I’ve never been used to just sitting around!”

He now owns a personal training gym and focuses his modeling work on fitness clients. “I don’t have as much time to work out these days, so I’ve learned how to train smarter,” says Shore. That means putting together efficient, multi-tasking routines that work a variety of muscle groups, build core strength and enhance balance and flexibility—all in 45 minutes or less. “Rather than working just one muscle group at a time, I’ll do combinations, like a lunge, curl, and press that work several muscles at once,” he says.

Jeremy’s diet strategies:

“I eat a lot, but I eat well. As much as possible, I eat organic, local foods and try to get a balance of fat, carbs and protein at every meal. I stay very hydrated—I drink a lot of water and avoid soda or anything else with either high-fructose corn syrup or artificial sweetener.”

Middle management:

“So many people ignore their core muscles. If you do one thing, I say work on building up your core strength. Do exercises that involve standing on one leg or use a stability ball. By working on all those important stabilizing muscles, your body will function better.”

An overlooked key to health:

“Sleep is so important!  It’s something that often gets pushed out in the modeling industry, but I make it a priority to get at least seven and a half hours a night.”