Heidi Klum Reveals Her Secret to Slim-down Success

Famed for her fashion runway style and sassy intelligence, Heidi Klum seems to have the perfect body. In addition to her mega-model status, Heidi hosts and co-produces "Project Runway," manages her own fashion and beauty product collection, and sustains a happy marriage with adorable children.

How does she manage to squeeze in time to pay attention to her diet and exercise?

The answer is deceptively simple. "I have good eating habits," Heidi told an US magazine reporter in a recent interview. The key word in her response: "habits."

It's not easy to change your regular routine. For example, if you're used to stopping at the coffee house on your way to work every morning and picking up a large mocha topped with whipped cream and a giant cinnamon bun, it's probably become a habit with you, something that you "always" do. Perhaps you routinely drive to a fast-food restaurant every noon for a quick hamburger and fries lunch, and/or buy a large candy bar from the vending machine every afternoon to "help" you get through your work day.

If you think it's too difficult to change your food habits, consider Heidi's confession: she did not always have good eating habits. It was only when she became a model that she "had to learn" how to eat to get and stay slim. Heidi says she needed to "change my lifestyle. In Germany, a lot of the food that we ate wasn't healthy. A lot of things are fried with creamy sauces," she revealed to the US magazine reporter.

In addition to succeeding with changing her eating habits, Heidi has developed a healthy attitude about her body. Her pregnancies taught her that she can "trust my body." After pregnancy, "with exercise and eating right," Heidi has succeeded in slimming down. She emphasizes health and happiness rather than a clothing size, noting "My husband always says that I'm sexy as I am. that's what I care most about."

Tips for change:

1. Recognize your current eating habits and lifestyle. For example, if you get through your work day by anticipating that morning mocha, noontime fries, and mid-afternoon candy bar, acknowledge that.

2. Evaluate ways to change. You might decide that for the first week of your new healthy lifestyle, you'll shift your coffee house order to a non-fat latte, with a small fat-free muffin. On the second week, you might choose to change your fast-food restaurant order to a grilled chicken salad and a diet soda. And on the third week, you might decide to bring fresh fruit and low-fat cheese from home for that mid-afternoon pick-up.

3. Track your success and reward yourself. Jot down how you do each day in a journal, and set up a reward system for yourself that doesn't involve food, such as a massage at the end of a successful month!