Zeta Jones's recipe for getting back into shape

She famously said she "ate for Wales" while pregnant and once tipped the scales at 13st.

But as the picture on the right shows, Catherine Zeta-Jones now has a figure most mothers of two would envy.

Posing for InStyle magazine, the 37-year-old showed off perfectly toned legs and a trim midriff - perhaps even looking a little too good to be true.

There was not a hint of spare flesh or the weight she admitted was so hard to shift after giving birth.

While some cynics will always put picture perfection down to airbrushing, Miss Zeta-Jones says she has achieved her slimline figure by a combination of healthy eating and exercise.

With gourmet food on the menu in her latest starring role as a New York chef in 'No Reservations', she had to be extra cautious about her fitness regime.

"I have to drag myself to the gym like everyone else," she recently said.

"But I do eat sensibly and have lots of chicken," she added.

"Although if I could eat only three foods for the rest of my life, it would also be smoked salmon sandwiches with potato chips crunched inside and fish and chips if I did not put on weight."

The Welsh actress, who spends most of her time at her Bermuda home with husband Michael Douglas, 62, admitted indulging in her favourite sandwiches during her two pregnancies.

While carrying Dylan, now aged seven, she ballooned to 13st.

She had an easier time shifting the pounds after the birth of her daughter Carys, now four.

She followed a rigorous exercise regime she used for her role in the musical Chicago.

The sultry beauty also recently hit the headlines for using foul language on the set of her latest movie 'No Reservations'.

She had to be even more careful on the set because 10-year-old Abigail Breslin was her co-star.

She said: "It was difficult. I'm from Wales. I have a mouth like a truck driver."

"The hardest thing for me making this movie was my reaction when I screwed up.

"Trying to control my reactions around this little girl was so difficult.

"Every day one would slip out and Abigail would roll her eyes as if to say, 'Here we go again.'"

She added: "In the end, if I screwed up, I would have to force myself to say, 'Oh poo!' or 'Oh sugar!' but it wasn't easy."