Hayden Panettiere is more than just a pretty face or just another actress out there, having repeatedly gotten involved in several charities and environmental organizations and using her celebrity status to draw attention to countless important issues. Now on the cover of Self magazine, Hayden, a spokesperson for The Whaleman Foundation, is praising the pleasures and benefits of swimming in the ocean. In fact, the petite actress explains, this is the only workout to which she sticks almost with religiosity because it’s the only one that is so incredibly efficient and, at the same time, fun. Whenever she gets the chance, Hayden will go for a swim, even if she can’t do so in the ocean, and thus keep in top shape. However, the secret to looking as good as she does also has a lot to do with confidence: setting unrealistic expectations means choosing failure from the start.

“I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life after a dive. Swimming works all your muscles – your core, glutes, quads, even the ones you didn’t know you had, like the little ones in your feet and hands! When I exercise, I just feel good. I’m not a 6-foot-tall skinny model, and yes, I have cellulite, but I’m not going to apologize for my body. If you love your body, it will love you back. Confidence is beautiful,” the actress says.

As some of you may remember, this is not the first time Hayden talks about confidence and a healthy body-image as the solution to leading a happy life. No one is perfect, she was saying a while back, in an older interview, therefore expecting celebrities (her, in particular) to be so was nothing short of absurd. She too had cellulite, just like millions out there, and having the media running pictures of her and analyzing every inch of her body was downright stupid, she was saying at the time, coming to the defense of the regular woman.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thanked God and my parents for raising me in a place that was so humbling and so outside any of that stuff. I mean I live criticism every day. I’d go walk my dogs and I used to walk them in my PJ’s and now I have to make sure I look half decent or else I’ll get trashed. Or like having cellulite on the back of your legs. ‘I’m sorry, I’m a woman. I don’t know what you want me to tell you, I’m sorry. It’s not going to go away. I can’t do anything about it. I apologize if I offended you’,” Panettiere said.