"How I got my health back": it took a friend's words of wisdom and finding her inner chef to help Kelly Ripa make over her body—and her outlook on life

Shape, May, 2007 by Claire Connors

Who needs a cup of coffee when we've got Kelly Ripa to get us going in the morning? Every day, along with her Live co-host Regis Philbin, the petite blond bundle of energy wakes up America with hilarious stories about her marriage to actor Mark Consuelos, their three kids, Michael, 9, Lola, 5, and Joaquin, 4, and her self-proclaimed unglamorous life. In fact, this down-to-earth Jersey girl is so self-deprecating and funny, she had everyone at our cover shoot cracking up when she was trying on bikinis. "Me on the cover of Shape?" she asks, looking at her slim figure in the mirror. "You're going to have to change the name to Shapeless." Well, Kelly, we beg to differ. In the past year, the 36-year-old actress has started--and more significantly, stuck to--a serious exercise program (turn to page 66 for full details on how she stays lean and toned). She's also learning to cook and even shares her favorite minestrone soup recipe (go to shape.com/kellysoup). But the thing she's most proud of--besides getting in her best shape ever--is snuffing out her hidden unhealthy habit: smoking.

* REPLACE ONE BAD HABIT WITH A GOOD ONE

Kelly was one of those classic "I'm not really a smoker" smokers. "I only did it when I was out with friends or sometimes in my dressing room, never at home or in front of the kids," says Kelly, who had quit--for good, she thought--years earlier when she started having children. "But I picked it up again when I was shooting [the sitcom] Hope & Faith, because there was a lot of pressure on the show. It began with a drag, then that became a whole cigarette. Soon I was a closet smoker."

It was her co-star Faith Ford who gave Kelly the push she needed to quit. She told her, "One day you'll get tired of being ashamed of yourself and you'll give it up." Kelly knew she was right. "The best gift I could give myself and ultimately my family was to stop smoking." What was her trick? She started exercising five times a week. "It was a matter of replacing one ritual with another," she explains. "It wasn't easy. In fact, I almost gave up in the beginning. But after a couple of weeks someone told me how great my arms looked! I'm so vain, that's all it took. I was hooked."

* SPEND QUALITY TIME IN THE KITCHEN

As Kelly loves to remind us on a daily basis, her cooking skills are less than exemplary. "Basically, I'd ring up my husband and ask, 'Where should we order from tonight?'" she says. "It was ridiculous. So we finally decided to save the money we were spending on takeout and hire a chef instead." The chef not only got the entire family eating healthy, home-cooked meals, but she also taught Kelly about nutrition and portion control. "We are so overfed as a society that we don't know what a real serving looks like," Kelly explains. "Now my family tries to eat smaller amounts more often. I'm big on grazing." She is not big, however, on breakfast. Instead, she always begins her day with coffee at home and then a cup of Starbucks regular coffee with half and half during the show. Her first meal of the day is at 10 a.m.--usually a salad and a small turkey sandwich or a BLT (with turkey bacon) on whole-wheat bread. Her afternoon snack is a handful of almonds and a pear. For dinner she eats salads and fresh veggies with smaller servings of fish or steak.

The family chef has also helped Kelly realize how easy home cooking can be, inspiring her to experiment more. Kelly even has a signature dish--what her kids call Tiger Soup. "It's Jamie Oliver's minestrone soup," she says. "But instead of pasta, I use chickpeas for extra protein. The kids think it looks like a tiger because of the purple cabbage and carrots. It's delicious. I like it because it's really easy."

* TAKE A TIME-OUT

As much as she likes to poke fun at her shortcomings today, Kelly was once really trying to be Superwoman. She had just given birth to her youngest, Joaquin, was starring in Hope & Faith, and was doing Live every morning. "I was so overextended, I'd collapse on weekends from exhaustion," she recalls. "I told Mark when the sitcom ended that I never wanted to work that hard again." Now she has a schedule that allows her to spend more time with her family. She's up at 6 a.m. with the kids, does the show at 9, hits the gym, and then spends the afternoon taking the children to their gymnastics, swimming, or ice-skating lessons.

Still, it's busy life, so Kelly makes sure to carve out downtime for herself and her family. Several times a month they head to their beach home on Long Island. It's the place where Kelly feels truly relaxed. "I'm a creature of warm weather and so are the kids," she explains. "We grill, go for long walks, buy ice cream. We never have a schedule, and we don't make any plans. A weekend out there feels like a month--it's pure magic."

ON MY PLAYLIST NOW

"When I listen to these songs on the treadmill, it feels like I'm not running at all!"

* Madonna

"Future Lovers"

* Vivaldi

"The Four Seasons"

* Beyonce and Jay-Z