Strictly’s Shirley Ballas, 64, reveals secret eating tip that keeps her at a perfect size

THERE aren’t galore women implicit the property of 60 who are a cleanable size 10.

Time and the laws of metabolism each excessively often conspire to spot america heap connected the pounds.

But astatine 64, Shirley Ballas is 1 of those fortunate few.

Her secret, she says, is elemental — lone having 1 repast a day.

According to the Stricty Come Dancing judge, it is intolerable to devour breakfast, luncheon and meal erstwhile you deed the large Six-O.

“The archetypal twelvemonth connected the Strictly Come Dancing tour, I gained 10 pounds conscionable successful that 1 month,” she says.

“Then I realised you cannot devour breakfast, luncheon and dinner, Shirley, you are implicit the property of 60!

“I had oversized portions and 3 meals per day, positive each the treats that spell with it.”

Thinking thing had to beryllium done, she ditched meal and lunch.

All she eats present is dinner. A nice dinner, for sure, with a decent information of atom alongside her thin chickenhearted oregon beef.

But that’s beauteous overmuch her lot, isolated from juices.

“I bash intermittent fasting,” says Shirley, who confirmed her divided from fiancé Danny Taylor, 51, successful December.

“I’ve realised the assemblage doesn’t request arsenic overmuch nutrient arsenic I support stuffing successful my face, truthful I bash instrumentality attraction of it.

“I don’t person thing successful the greeting and usually astir luncheon I’ll person a juice, and past astir 4 oregon 5pm my parent does a beauteous meal.

“She’s been making sticky atom due to the fact that she’s bought maine a atom instrumentality for Christmas, truthful we’re each trying sticky atom with beef stroganoff oregon with chicken.

“It’s a invited alteration to the salads.”

Intermittent fasting, also known arsenic 18-6 fasting, has go an progressively fashionable mode to suffer value and support it off.

The slowing of metabolism and an summation successful abdominous wide and hormonal changes marque value summation inevitable for galore women arsenic they get older. Shirley’s intermittent fasting means she is allowed to devour during 1 six-hour model each day.

This regularisation makes it overmuch easier to restrict calorie intake, with the 18-hour interruption reportedly giving the assemblage clip to pain fat.

Celeb fans of the authorities see Friends prima Jennifer Aniston and histrion Hugh Jackman.

And past twelvemonth TV presenter Carol Vorderman revealed she besides skips meals, saying: “I mostly person 1 repast a time — precocious afternoon.”

It surely sounds elemental enough, but that does not needfully mean it is easy.

It takes stone coagulated subject and determination — qualities not lacking successful Shirley.

Her one-meal-a-day regimen intelligibly works for her. She looks great, whether that’s successful a slinky evening formal connected Strictly, oregon a astute trouser suit.

Her relation exemplary is her mum, Audrey, 87, who lives with her successful London.

‘Teaspoon of brandy’

Audrey is inactive arsenic slim arsenic a rod and Shirley follows her example.

“My mum lone weighs 8st and weighs herself each morning,” she has said previously. “If she puts connected a pound, she gets that lb off. She eats due to the fact that she needs a spot of substance and doesn’t overindulge.

“That’s the mode I americium and I don’t spot it changing. I’m a size 10 and erstwhile I archetypal joined Strictly, I dropped to a size 6, but that wasn’t maintainable.”

Despite her strict regime, she revealed past twelvemonth that she does let herself 1 small dainty a day.

“One cupful of java a day, successful a china cup,” she said.

“A spoon of brandy successful it, Coffee Mate and 2 brownish sugars. That is the item of my day.”

It sounds precise Shirley, precise ladylike. And she allows herself an occasional saccharine treat.

“I’m prone to having a small barroom present and there, which I love,” said the twice-married star.

You’d deliberation being distant from location and connected the existent Strictly unrecorded circuit mightiness scupper Shirley’s rigid regime, but no. She and chap justice Motsi Mabuse are making definite they get their five-a-day by juicing.

“Motsi and I are sharing a changing country connected the tour, truthful that’s marvellous,” says Shirely.

“On tour, I’ll person 2 juices a day, and Motsi is going to articulation in, and we’ll effort to spell to the gym erstwhile we can. You bash suffer value by juicing.”

 Shirley’s conflict to enactment successful signifier did not statesman astatine 60, though. She’s been watching her waistline since she was 40.

“Once you get implicit 40 past I deliberation it’s difficult,” she says. “I can’t speech for anybody else, but for maine it was difficult, truthful I’m rather vigilant astir what I enactment successful my mouth.”

Shirley has been disciplined each her life. Her grooming arsenic a nonrecreational dancer — she is known arsenic the Queenof Latin and has won aggregate awards during her vocation — instilled her with strict subject from a young age.

When she’s not teaching dancing, she practises yoga and gets connected her Peloton bike. She adjacent takes crystal baths to enactment a zip into the commencement of her day.

She’s cautious to look aft her tegument too, and is simply a large instrumentality of NeoGen, a non-surgical attraction said to boost collagen production.

“I bash my NeoGen treatments, which tighten the skin, and I don’t deliberation I look atrocious for 64,” says Shirley, laughing.

“The past clip I went to spot my doctor who did my boobs, I went to speech to him astir my facelift and helium told maine to travel backmost to him erstwhile I was 65.

"I’m looking astatine my cervix reasoning that could bash with a small spot of a nip and tuck. I’ve had nary facelifts oregon nips and tucks.”

Despite approaching 65, Shirley lives beingness astatine breakneck speed.

She flies to California to sojourn her dancer lad Mark, 38, and grandson Banksi whenever she can.

And this week, she tin beryllium seen successful the Costa Rican jungle successful caller Netflix world amusement Celebrity Bear Hunt, hosted by Holly Willoughby.

She is the oldest of the 12 celebrities taking part, which see exemplary Lottie Moss, Spice Girl Mel B, erstwhile rugby subordinate Danny Cipriani and ex-Saturdays prima Una Healy. They person to flight being hunted down by enactment antheral Bear Grylls.

But Shirley, who Bear described arsenic “steely” and “laser-focused”, was unimpressed by 1 of her co-stars’ deficiency of discipline.

“There’s ever idiosyncratic successful a radical that thinks they’re much entitled than the rest,” she said past month.

“If they archer maine my autobus volition beryllium acceptable astatine 9am, past I’m determination astatine 4th to nine.

“When you person to bent astir waiting for divas, that doesn’t enactment good with me.”

At slightest the acquisition gave her plentifulness of opportunities for fasting.

• Shirley is promoting online bingo assemblage WhichBingo, whichbingo.co.uk.