No fads, no fakes, just FABULOUS BODIES

By POLLY GRAHAM PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEE STRICKLAND , 03/01/2009

They aren't about the quick fix, starving themselves to be slim, and they haven't been to body boot camp. Oh no. This foxy foursome have endured the same ups and downs as us, and now have figures to be proud of. So as you embark on your new year shape up, we got Ola Jordan, Danielle Lineker, Sam Fox and Jo Wood to spill their secrets...

"I BINGE ON JUNK THEN WORK IT OFF"

20's

Professional dancer OLA JORDAN, 27

Height: 5ft 4in

Weight: 7st 12lb

Dress size: 6-8

Heaviest weight: 8st 11lb

Lightest weight: 7st 3lb

Few would believe that super- svelte Strictly Come Dancing star Ola Jordan dreads January just as much as us. With her to-die-for curves, you'd think she was the sort of girl who was slacking if she hadn't done 1,000 squats before 6am. But while we sign up to spinning classes dreaming of a whole new body, Ola's motivation is purely maintenance.

Having danced seven hours a day, six days a week, for four months during Strictly, Ola's fit and firm - but she has to work hard to stay that way.

"Dancing shapes my body, but when Strictly ends, I have to be really careful," she says. "Believe it or not, I'm not a gym bunny - I have to force myself to go."

As much as it pains her to work out, Ola knows she has little choice if she wants to keep in shape - and continue wearing the postage stamp-sized outfits she's famous for.

Five days a week Ola spends an hour on a cross-trainer, which helps her to burn calories and tone her legs. On the two days she can't face the gym, she swims or runs for an hour. As if that's not enough, in her spare time Ola loves to wakeboard - a cross between waterskiing and surfing - to firm her thighs.

All that exercise certainly works up an appetite - and Ola's happy to indulge. During Strictly, where she partnered BBC Breakfast's Chris Hollins, 38, she gorged on high-calorie snacks and fast food during her energy-sapping training.

"I love anything that's bad," she giggles. "Burger King, pastries, chocolate, crisps. I eat a lot of junk, but when I'm dancing I need the energy."

However, bingeing on the bad stuff finishes once the competition is over and Ola returns to a healthy-eating regime.

"I follow a strict no-carbs rule," she says. "I stick to salads, soups, grilled fish and veg."

She may be dedicated to diet, but Ola has no desire to get anywhere near a size zero.

"Latin dancers have to be curvier because it's all about shaking your hips and boobs," she explains. "All the Strictly girls eat - it's not like ballet where everyone has to starve."

The only time Ola's weight has crept up was during a teaching stint in Hong Kong just after she married fellow Strictly dancer James Jordan, 31.

"I was nearly 9st because I wasn't dancing much," she explains. "Because I'm petite I got chubby and didn't feel my best. For me the secret is dancing, dancing, dancing."

30s

"I CAN'T DIET, I LOVE FOOD TOO MUCH"

Model Danielle Lineker, 30, is married to BBC sports presenter Gary, 49

Height: 5ft 6in

Weight: 8st

Dress size: 8

Heaviest weight: 9st

Lightest weight: 7st 7lb

Flicking through the papers after a blissful holiday in Barbados, Danielle Lineker shrieked in horror at a picture of her in a skimpy bikini. It suddenly dawned on her where all those Chinese takeaways she'd shared during romantic nights in with new love Gary Lineker had gone.

"Straight on to my hips and thighs," says Danielle of the holiday snap taken two years ago. "When I got home I bought some scales for the first time and weighed myself. I was 9st - a stone heavier than normal. I've got a terrible sweet tooth and up until then I could eat what I wanted and not put on any weight. But my friends had warned me that it would change as I approached my 30s - and they were right."

But instead of throwing herself into the latest fad diet, Danielle took the sensible route.

"I can't diet. I love food too much," she sighs. "I stopped eating carbs in the evening. I'd still have a bowl of pasta and a pudding at lunchtime, but then make some grilled chicken and vegetables for dinner."

And Danielle pledged to give exercise a go, despite being a self-confessed gym-phobe. "I haven't gone to a gym since I had Ella [her seven-year-old daughter from a previous relationship]," she admits. "I put on 3st during the pregnancy because I was eating a packet of biscuits for breakfast and fish and chips for dinner!

"Once Ella was born I started going to the gym. I was an air hostess at the time and it took me nine months to get back into my size-8 uniform."

She's now found a way to keep in shape - no treadmill required. A Pilates instructor comes to the family home in Esher, Surrey, twice a week for 90-minute sessions. The result? She's the happiest she's been with her body. And new hubby Gary loves it, too.

"Gary likes my legs best," she says. "And he definitely prefers me curvier."

When the couple first got together in September 2007 after being introduced by a mutual friend, Danielle's weight had plummeted to 7st 7lb. Just weeks earlier her stepbrother Kaid Mohamed, 24, broke his neck fleeing a gang after a nightclub brawl and was left paralysed.

"At the time he was in intensive care and I was spending a lot of time at the hospital and was too stressed to eat," she recalls. "If I wore a low-cut top my neck and chest looked horrible - like a chicken's."

Fast-forward two years and Danielle, who married England football legend Gary in Italy last September, is happy, healthy and determined to instil Ella with positive feelings about her body.

"I would never complain about my body in front of Ella because girls can start getting hang-ups so early these days," she insists.

"My philosophy is don't sit around moaning about your body - now is the time to enjoy it because when you get older, you're going to look back and think: 'Wow, I looked great in my 20s and 30s.'"

40s

"I'M AN EXERCISE ADDICT"

Singer and former glamour model Sam Fox, 43

Height: 5ft 1in

Weight: 7st 7lb

Dress: 12 on top, 8 on bottom,br>Heaviest weight: 8st 7lb

Lightest weight: 7st

We reckon if any of our fierce foursome deserve their body, it's Sam Fox. Her killer curves are her reward for the punishing workouts she does every day and her ultra-strict diet. The result is a body that wouldn't look out of place on today's Page Three, just like Sam's did in her '80s heyday.

"My body hasn't changed much since my 20s," she says. "I still look in the mirror and think I look pretty good.

"In my Page Three days I was curvier and cuddlier, which is why I got my girl-next-door image. Now I'm a lot firmer, but still pretty cuddly."

Sam's all-natural 36D bust and her tiny waist made her millions, but she barely lifted a finger to keep her body trim during her modelling days. After retiring to start a singing career, Sam stepped up her fitness and has since become an exercise obsessive. Even a stint on I'm A Celebrity! didn't stop her from doing her daily lunges and squats.

"I admit I'm addicted to exercise," says Sam. "I feel really guilty if I don't work out for a couple of days."

Sam goes to the gym every other day, where she runs 4km on the treadmill before doing 100 lunges, 100 squats and 200 sit-ups while holding a gym ball. She also uses 2lb weights to tone her arms, shoulders and triceps. On the other days Sam runs 10km or swims for an hour. She also has a weekly session with a boxing trainer which boosts her cardiovascular fitness and helps her de-stress.

Sam's no slacker when it comes to diet either, and follows a strict eating plan. She says: "I start the day with a fruit smoothie, lunch is either fish or chicken with brown rice and vegetables. I snack on pumpkin seeds and goji berries in the afternoon and ban all carbs after 5pm, having a steak and vegetables, or fish and salad in the evening. My one treat is a weekly curry."

Sam's disciplined approach has meant her weight has remained a constant 7st 7lb since her teens. It's also given her a body she's so proud of, she'd consider coming out of retirement to pose naked again.

"As long as it was tasteful I don't see why not. Joan Collins did it at 50 so I don't see why I shouldn't do it in my 40s," she says.

Looking this good, it's no surprise that ageing isn't something that worries Sam and, while she wouldn't rule it out, surgery isn't on her agenda either.

"If a woman is unhappy with her body and she wants bigger boobs, good luck to her!" she says. "There are a lot of women who don't like the way they look. I just happen to be one of those who is very happy with my body."

Sam, if we had your figure, we would be too!

50s

"AFTER RONNIE LEFT I GOT FIT"

Organic entrepreneur and former Strictly star Jo Wood, 54, was married to Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood for 24 years

Height: 5ft 6in

Weight: 9st 7lb

Dress size: 10

Heaviest weight: 10st 7lb

Lightest weight: 6st 7lb

One good thing came of Jo Wood's split from Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie Wood - she dropped two dress sizes and found her mojo.

London's glammest grandmother - yep, unbelievable isn't it? - has emerged £6.5million richer and 1st lighter from the humiliation of Ronnie, now 62, walking out on her for Russian waitress Ekaterina Ivanova, now 21.

Jo and Ronnie had sunk into a comfort-eating malaise for the last few months of their marriage, as Jo tried to keep her husband away from alcohol with her home cooking.

"I eat when I'm unhappy," explains Jo. "I was comfort-eating in front of the telly with Ronnie. We were having ice cream and home-made chocolate sauce every night.

"I'd complain about putting on weight, but didn't do anything about it. I was a size 14 but squeezing into a size 12," she adds with her trademark cackle.

That all changed overnight when Jo discovered Ronnie's affair - which now looks to be over - with Ekaterina, then 18, in July 2008.

She recalls: "When we broke up I couldn't eat at all. I went for therapy and was told: 'He's gone, concentrate on yourself'. So I decided I was going to get fit. I went cycling in Richmond Park, hiking in Spain, and got a personal trainer. I was exercising every day and felt fantastic."

With their divorce going through, the now size-10 Jo was ready for a new challenge. In September, she signed up for Strictly Come Dancing and was partnered with the show's resident rogue, Brendan Cole, 33.

While the couple failed to impress the judges on the dance floor, the public admired Jo's pluck and repeatedly voted to keep her in. And former model Jo, who counts Kate Moss as her best pal, was thrilled with the results of all the training.

"Everything toned up - you should have seen my stomach," she smiles.

She admits that since being voted off the show in October, she's gained 7lb.

"It all goes on my bum," she moans. "I had a blowout over Christmas and didn't worry about it. It will soon drop off again and I'll be back to my happy weight of 9st."

Jo hasn't always battled to keep the pounds off. When she first met Ronnie in the '70s her weight dropped as she tried to keep up with her husband's rock 'n' roll habits.

"In those days I was just 6st 7lb," she winces. "Too thin really."

"It was all about drinking, doing cocaine and not eating or sleeping. I was a good girl before I met Ronnie, but I got caught up in the madness. I thought I looked great as a skeleton.

"That phase lasted three years - then I watched a home movie and saw my stick legs poking out of my miniskirt and it dawned on me how terrible I looked."

Thankfully Jo doesn't share her husband's addictive personality and was able to stop excessive drinking and drug-taking virtually overnight. Since her marriage split, Jo's proven she's a true survivor, so the ageing process holds no fear for her.

"My biggest worry is I'll lose my mind, not my looks. It definitely gets harder to keep in shape when you hit your 40s, but the only way to look young is healthy-eating and exercise."

Jo admits she dabbled with Botox five years ago but isn't in a hurry to try it again.

She laughs: "The doctor's orders were to relax. What did I do? I went out dancing until 5am and the Botox dropped down my face. For six weeks it looked like I'd had a stroke."

As a newly single lady, Jo's been tentatively dipping her toe back into the daunting world of dating.

"I've had a couple of boyfriends, so I'm not completely naive about all that," she reveals defiantly.

"And I've had no complaints about my body."

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: PA, SPLASH, REX, DAVID MCGOUGH/DMI HAIR: MATTHEW WADE AT CAROL HAYES MANAGEMENT MAKE-UP: AIMEE ADAMS USING MAC STYLING: LYNNE MCKENNA

TOP IMAGE: OLA WEARS: LEOTARD, AMERICAN APPAREL; BELT, URBAN OUTFITTERS; SHOES, NEW LOOK DANIELLE WEARS: LEOTARD, AMERICAN APPAREL; BELT, RIVER ISLAND; WRISTBANDS, AMERICAN APPAREL; SHOES, STYLIST'S OWN SAM WEARS: JACKET, MISS SELFRIDGE; HOT PANTS, PRIMARK; CUFFS, URBAN OUTFITTERS; SHOES, NEW LOOK JO WEARS: DRESS, VERO MODA AT ASOS; LEGGINGS, NEW LOOK; SHOES, RIVER ISLAND

OLA WEARS: JACKET, IDOL AT NEW LOOK; BODICE, RIVER ISLAND; HOT PANTS, MISSGUIDED; BELT AND SHOES, NEW LOOK DANIELLE WEARS: TOP, RIVER ISLAND; BRIEFS, ARISTOC AT MY TIGHTS; SHOES, STYLIST'S OWN SAM WEARS: TOP, URBAN OUTFITTERS; BRIEFS, ARISTOC AT MY TIGHTS; CUFFS AND BELT, URBAN OUTFITTERS; SHOES, RIVER ISLAND JO WEARS: JACKET, RELIGION; BRA-TOP, URBAN OUTFITTERS; LEGGINGS, RIVER ISLAND; CUFFS, URBAN OUTFITTERS; SHOES, RIVER ISLAND

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