How Gwyneth Paltrow Stays Skinny

Gwyneth Paltrow is rocking a bikini on the cover of the new Self magazine -- and she looks pretty darn good!

But her body does not come easy, says the mom of two. Paltrow admits to working hard for that bikini figure, revealing that there are days when she'll work out for two hours!

"I do 45 minutes of cardio five days a week, because I like to eat," the Glee guest star says. "I also try for 45 minutes of muscular structure work, which is toning, realigning and lengthening. If I'm prepping for something or I've been eating a lot of pie, I do two hours a day, six days a week for two weeks."

Paltrow, who just released a new cookbook, My Father's Daughter, says keeping her weight in control is all a matter of common sense. 

"I've found what works for me," the 38-year-old actress says. "I know if I put in an hour and a half, five days a week, I'm good. If I'm on vacation and, like, "F--- it, I'm not working out," I know what to do when I get back. A lot of women think, "Oh, my God, I could never get there," but I don't think that's true. It's simply relative to how much you put into it."

But even a beauty like Paltrow has her problem areas. 

"My butt! My butt, butt, butt," she says. "When (my trainer) met me, she said that I had a long, square butt that she was going to redesign, and I was, like, 'Yeah? Good luck.' The amazing thing is, she was right! And it's still changing!"

So Paltrow watches what she eats and works out hard, but does she ever slip-up?

"I say I always eat right, but last night, I had fried clams, pasta with duck sausage and two glasses of red wine," she reveals. "When I want to lose, I eat less pasta, bread and potatoes. Before last year's Iron Man 2 premiere, I did green juices and salads for three days."

The moral of Paltrow's story is bad news for those of us looking for a quick fix to shed the extra pounds. Basically, if we want to look like this sexy actress, we have to put down the Big Mac and hit the gym. It may not be ideal, but it's better than taking a hint from Kimora Lee Simmons, who just doesn't eat.

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