Celebrity moms have got it all: designer baby clothes, deluxe layettes and doulas (those round-the-clock baby nurses)—and, when it comes to shedding those postpartum pounds, a trainer who can tailor a killer exercise program. While the first three may be out of your league, the secrets to these A-list mamas' expert-approved workouts and healthy diets are all right here. Take this advice to heart and you'll not only be back to your sexy self but you may even have enough energy to stay up for all those late-night feedings. —Meredith Asplundh

JOSIE BISSETT This Melrose Place alum thanks son Mason for her latest project: the parenting book Little Bits of Wisdom. As for how to shed the pounds, she says, "What worked for me was doing a lot of different things so I wouldn't get bored and quit."
exercise: Twice a week, 40 minutes of power walking, 30 minutes of weight lifting, and 30 minutes of boxing. Once a week, a yoga class at L.A.'s Maha Yoga, Yoga Works or Cypress Yoga, plus a Tae-Bo class at Billy Blanks's studio.
diet: "No matter what I tried, five to seven pounds lingered, so I did a cleansing fast with a doctor. For seven days I drank herbal shakes and then gradually added food back into my diet. The pounds came off. It was the kick start I needed to eat right again."
secret: "Carrying the baby builds up biceps. But I have to remember to switch sides!"

IMAN Even though she runs her own cosmetics company, I-Iman Makeup, she cites the birth of her second child—Alexandria—at age 45 as her greatest accomplishment. Losing the weight has been a feat too: "I went into this pregnancy with a 22-year-old's mentality. Back then, it took three weeks to get back into shape." Now, she says, it's a work in progress.
exercise: Five times a week, 90 minutes of aerobics or Tae-Bo and 30 minutes of conditioning that includes ab crunches, squats for tightening hips and buttocks, and work with resistance machines for toning thighs and upper body. Plus daily walks.
diet: "Vegetables, no late-night eating, no carbs."
secret: "I have small shoulders in comparison to my hips, so I've been lifting weights to become more proportional. It's easier to bulk up the shoulders than it is to get the fat off the hips."

MELINA KANAKAREDES The tireless star, who shot her second season of the TV drama Providence while expecting baby Zoe, didn't have much time for pregnant pauses. "I worked up until two and a half weeks before the birth," recalls the actress. "And there was no belly holding or soothing an aching back while the cameras were rolling. My character wasn't pregnant, so I had to act like I wasn't," she says. As for recovery time, Kanakaredes didn't have much of that either. "I was back at work full-time after seven weeks."
exercise: One hour of Pilates six days a week with L.A. instructor Donna Herbst, including 10 minutes of warm-up stretches, then work on the Pilates Reformer (an apparatus with moveable parts) to tone legs, abdomen, rear and arms. Two or three times a week, 20 minutes of swimming or running on a treadmill to burn calories.
diet: Zone Perfect.
secret: Taking baby steps. Four weeks after delivery, she began doing Pilates twice a week. After six weeks, she increased to six days a week. "My baby comes with me everywhere—even to workouts," she says. "Sometimes I'll put her on my stomach when I do ab work. She weighs 18 pounds, so when I do crunches I get a workout—and she laughs."

MING-NA Although her pregnancy was written into the story line for ER's resident Dr. Deb Chen, her character opted out of motherhood by giving the baby up for adoption. So there'll be no scenes of Ming-Na's special slimming technique: breast-feeding, which, she says, "made the pounds just fly off."
exercise: Twice-weekly "stroller-cising" with baby Michaela Zee at the mall (power walking while pushing a baby carriage). Twenty to 30 minutes of daily exercises including working with a fitness ball and stomach crunches, leg lifts and hip swivels "to tighten the butt." Lots of stretching. And yoga whenever possible.
wrist watch: "A few weeks after giving birth, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome, which I found out is common with postpartum women because nerves can become pinched during labor. That's why stretching is so important after having a baby. And yoga helps realign your body."
secret: "I have an incentive," she says. "There's a pair of size 2 jeans I haven't been able to fit back into yet. But I only have four pounds to go. Jeans are the most unforgiving."

MARLEE MATLIN This Oscar winner is known these days for playing the feisty campaign manager on The West Wing. And she tapped into that feistiness as she prepared for April's ABC movie Kiss My Act by whittling away 62 post-baby Brandon pounds. In five months she has reached her ideal weight.
exercise: One hour of hatha yoga with L.A. instructor Joy Kilpatrick twice a week. Thai massage therapy (Matlin does yoga stretches while Kilpatrick performs acupressure and massage) once a week. Brisk walks three times a week.
diet: "I lost 57 pounds with Zone Perfect. Because I was breastfeeding, I checked with my doctor. Normally it's about a 1,200-calories-a-day program, but they upped my intake to 1,600 to 1,800."

CAREY LOWELL This model turned actress (she was a License to Kill Bond girl and assistant DA on Law & Order) may be on hiatus, but she's hardly out of the spotlight, since her longtime partner—and the father of her baby boy, Homer James Jigme—is Richard Gere.
exercise: Three times a week, an hour of Pilates with N.Y.C. instructor Marina Gregory and an hourlong workout with personal trainer Paul Frediani of Equinox gyms. Sessions with Frediani entail noncontact boxing, conditioning with a fitness ball to improve core muscle strength, and lifting weights to build and tone muscle.
diet: "Throughout the pregnancy, if I wanted something sugary I'd have fruit salad," she says.
secret: Boxing is a major calorie burner—in a one-hour session, you could burn 900 calories. Also, "it targets the transverse abdominal muscle, the biggest problem spot for any woman who has ever had children," Frediani says. "Strengthening this muscle gives you that hourglass figure."