Padma Lakshmi in Bathing Suit is a "Botticelli Chick"

Padma Lakshmi strives to be a work of art! On Monday, the Top Chef host shared a bunch of beachside snaps to her Instagram account, flaunting her fabulous figure in a purple bathing suit. “Tryin' to be like one of those Botticelli chicks…” she captioned the snap, treating fans to some throwback photos and adding the hashtags #thebirthofpadma and #nofilter. So, how does the celebrity mom manage to make 51 look like 21, despite a career that involves eating thousands of calories a day while she is shooting her hit show? Read on to see 8 of Padma Lakshmi’s top tips for staying in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

1. Do a Food Detox

Some people have a cheat day. For Padma, it is more like a cheat season. During the average Top Chef season, Padma gains up to 17 pounds. Right after shooting wraps, she does a food detox. “It’s no sweets, no red meat, no wheat, no alcohol, no fried food, no dairy except for cottage cheese or low-fat yogurt. But this is a milder version—like, I can fall off the wagon one day a week,” she told Health.

2. Split Your Plate in Half

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Padma has a trick to ensure she is eating a balanced meal. She splits her plate into halves consisting of 50 percent fruits and vegetables; 50 percent simple carbs, starch, and lean protein, she revealed to Women’s Health.

3. Eat Plant-Based

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Padma eats everything while shooting Top Chef, however when she isn’t working she eats as plant based as possible. She revealed to Women’s Health that while produce makes up most of her diet, she does allow herself some chicken, fish, ground turkey, and veal.

4. Hydrate

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Padma makes hydration a priority. “I drink a lot of water—three liters a day,” she told Health. “I can tell by how much I’m peeing.” Another way she maintains hydration? Avoiding alcohol.

5. Monitor Your Weight and Bloodwork

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Padma keeps tabs on her weight and blood sugar levels with the help of a professional before and after each season. “My parents are diabetic,” she said. She also takes a preventive medication to regulate blood-sugar levels while she’s filming. “Those chefs are cooking to win, so they’re putting in as much lard and butter and salt as they can,” she told Women’s Health.

6. Work Out Daily

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Padma exercises a minimum of five times a week for 90 minutes, she revealed to Women’s Health. One of her go-to forms of cardio? Jumping rope, which she does for about 35 minutes per day and 2,000 strokes. She also does strength training. Her sessions include weight lifting, including classic squats, lunges, and dumbbell curls, two or three times a week. “He’s there to watch my form, and he spends most of his time telling me not to do something,” she said about her trainer Tony. She also does 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical, treadmill, or slide board. Some days she does an hour of boxing and once “all warm,” heads to pilates.

7. Do Pilates

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“I started going to Pilates a few years ago, because my chiropractor recommended it for my back,” she told Women’s Health. “Pilates changed my body. It made me strong in places I didn’t know I needed to be. I have a butt now that I didn’t have during my modeling career!”

8. Don’t Do a Popular Workout That You Don’t Like

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Padma isn’t going to do a certain exercise just because everyone else likes it. “I’m the only Indian who doesn’t do yoga,” she admitted to Health. “It’s hard on my joints, but that’s me. I think yoga is great for a lot of people—it’s certainly worked for Madonna. I think it’s also because I’m Indian, and whenever I go to do a class and I hear a Western person say those Sanskrit words, in workout wear, in a context that I frankly don’t associate with those words—because I’m Hindu—it’s just my own thing.”