In Winning Shape: How Brooke Burke Stays Fit

Brooke Burke's Workout and Diet

Spend five minutes with Brooke Burke and you feel like she's your BFF. As we chat, she freely shares the kind of great girlfriend tips that would take you hours to search for on the Web: the best product for covering your nipples under a white T-shirt (Boob-eez); the young shoe designer who's making gorgeous boots that are a must-have for shoe freaks (Camilla Skovgaard); a miracle concealer that will hide even the worst blemishes and scars (Illuminaré); and an easy, low-cal way to add tons of flavor to fish, chicken, and veggie dishes (the Middle Eastern spice paste harissa).

What Brooke can't find, she invents, like her Baboosh Body Exercise Wrap, to wear while you exercise. "To me, sweat is workout bliss," Brooke, 40, says. "I always wear the wrap when I do cardio. It heats up your body, so you can sweat out all that bloat."

Considering her high-wire life, it's a good thing Brooke doesn't mind a little perspiration. She's the mother of four kids, ages 11 to 3 -- two from her first marriage and two with her new husband, actor David Charvet. (The couple, who had been engaged since 2006, finally tied the knot on August 12.) On Dancing with the Stars, Brooke is a cohost and interviews the contestants after their performances. She tweets obsessively (she has nearly two million followers); is the CEO of the online community ModernMom.com, where she blogs about her life; and will be cohosting the Miss America pageant later this month.

At a restaurant near her Malibu, California, home, Brooke orders Cobb salad without the bacon and blue cheese. "Yesterday was one of those hormonal superhungry days," she says. "David and I went out for a romantic dinner; I had a huge bowl of spaghetti Bolognese, and we had a great bottle of wine. I thought, If this is my one day this week to splurge, I'll have bread and dessert, too. So today I'm back on track."

Here, Brooke shares how she juggles it all -- or tries to -- and gets that hot body to boot.

I try to get to a Pilates Plus class, which is an intense, fast-paced workout that's done on a special reformer machine, at least three times a week. I also go to the gym a couple of times. I do 15 minutes on the treadmill, walk­ing at a 3.5-mile-per-hour speed and a 15-grade incline, and then I do the 45-minute head-to-toe workout I designed with trainer Gregory Joujon-Roche for one of my new DVDs. I don't think you need more than an hour to do cardio and full-body toning. I don't have three hours a day to devote to my body, but I do have an hour five days a week.

I don't ever skip meals. If you let yourself get too hungry, you'll start craving sugary, fatty foods, and you'll make bad choices.

I wish I were always calm in the chaos. I have children with very strong personalities, and as elating as that is, it can also be deflating. There's a lot of action in my household, and sometimes I'm a referee all day long.

Having a blended family is a challenge. Two of my children are with their father part of the week, so when they come home they want me all to themselves. Then my other two children, who have had me all to themselves, suddenly have to share me, and that can make them very needy. My business is crazy, too. There are so many moving parts to my life, nothing ever happens perfectly. I've learned to just roll with that.

No! My two youngest kids always end up in our bed in the middle of the night. I try to get six to eight hours a night, and one night a week I have to get a full eight hours.

I think that sleep deprivation is a really bad thing for a woman, not only for her skin and eyes but also for her mood, memory, metabolism, energy, and sex drive. David and I have done "sleepcations," where we check into a hotel room simply to be alone and sleep.