Elizabeth Hurley will model bikinis into her 60s!A couple of years ago when she was 40, Elizabeth Hurley said coyly that she would no longer pose in a bikini. Well, she was photographed on the cover of the Sunday Times magazine yesterday doing just that. And I suspect she will continue to "look amazing" in a bikini well into her 60's. Why? Well, Hurley is as bad a model as she was an actress, but she is a businesswoman and she's realised that if she continues to remain slim and taut, we civilians as she calls us will continue to admire her and wish we could look as good. And maybe buy her bikinis, whether it's her range Elizabeth Hurley Beach, or her "diffusion" line at Mango. It's all money in the bank.

I take my hat off to her because it isn't easy to look as good as Hurley in your 40's. Hormones and gravity start to play their part in your body's inevitable decline south. The only ways to keep it at bay are excessive exercise and dieting, and/or plastic surgery. I'm not sure Hurley has had surgery yet. Her breasts had clearly been manipulated as part of the air brushing in the Sunday Times as they did look suspiciously fuller. And she may have had a tummy tuck, which would explain a completely flat, stretchmark free stomach in a woman who's had a baby. It's obvious she has Botox and something injected into her lips, and maybe other injections too. But I'll give her the benefit of the doubt on surgery. No, I think that Hurley does what Madonna does: excessive exercise and dieting. Madonna apparently spends three hours a day in the gym. Hurley famously eats very little, although she usually claims to "eat loads."

In yesterday's article, she is vague about her regime. She says she has a Power Plate but doesn't know how to use it yet, and she says she "ought to" go to the gym. She also admits Pilates and yoga aren't enough to keep the ravages of time at bay.

I think she's just trying to follow the example of many others - Sophia Loren, Sharon Stone, Joan Collins - who like to keep their beauty secrets just that, secrets, in the hope that we will imagine they somehow sup at the fountain of eternal youth.

I am getting down to a fierce regime myself in the interests of looking passable in a bikini in Greece in June. It's at this time every year I start to panic, and last year I even resorted to Smart Lipo which was a complete waste of money, as was the Universal Contour Wrap. My advice to anyone who wants to look good on the beach is that short cuts are not the way to go. The only way is disciplined eating and exercise. Tough but true. So if you want to look like Hurley this summer (and don't forget,she was extensively airbrushed in the pictures - you can see from the dark lines around her silhouette and the extreme whiteness of her eyes), sign up for a 5k run, get a personal trainer or anything that will motivate you to burn some calories. If you don't make it, there are great flattering one piece swimsuits and sarongs.

Update on Smart Lipo, 10 weeks on

Thanks to all the readers who left comments with their experiences. The message seems to be that you need to be very patient if you've had Smart Lipo: the results can take three to four months to take effect.

Well it's now 10 weeks since I had the treatment, in two areas on my stomach (above and below the navel). I wanted to lose my belly bump in time for my holiday. I'd arranged to have Soft Lipo two months before my holiday, and asked if it would show an improvement in that time. I was assured it would. Well, to be perfectly honest, my stomach probably did look worse, two months on. I still have a ridge of fat that sticks out above the navel. You can see it from the side, even if I suck my stomach in, and if I wear something tight. So I wasn't as carefree on holiday as I hoped. I did wear bikinis.

I haven't had the recommended endermologie treatments. Unfortunately the salon ranfg up and cancelled my first session, at fairly short notice; and as this meant I could only squeeze in one session before my holiday, I didn't bother.

My advice to anyone considering Soft Lipo would be:
1) Be realistic about what it can achieve. I think I was expecting too much. Soft or Smart Lipo only removes a tiny amount of fat. If you want to see a big improvement, you should consider conventional liposuction.
2) It's best confined to small areas where diet and exercising has failed to make a difference.
3) Anticipate at least three to four months to see a final result. So if you're having it done for a holiday, wedding, etc, make sure you leave enough time.
4) Contrary to the advice I was given, the coagulated fat DOES seem to disperse faster if you exercise more vigorously. But wait at least a fortnight before you start exercising again.
5) You may have unsightly pouches or pockets of fat for several weeks after the procedure. This is the coagulated fat, waiting to be metabolised (it has to go somewhere!). This can often look worse than the site did originally.

Please keep adding comments if you've had the treatment or are considering having it.

In all honesty, with hindsight I would not have had it. That £3k would have been better spent, for me, on Lasik eye surgery. I have now embarked on a proper fitness regime and I expect that in six weeks or so I will have achieved better results than the SmartLipo.

SmartLipo update: 5 weeks on

My last post on my SmartLipo was a fortnight ago: it's now five weeks since I had the procedure in two areas of my stomach and midriff.

I'm sorry to report there's very little progress. I still have hard lumpy deposits which are visible from the side and look very peculiar. They are a little smaller than they were, but I can't say my stomach looks any better.

Disconcertingly, I used a sun bed today and the lumpy areas did not tan! So they look even more peculiar, islands of white standing out like a beacon.

I'm getting quite gloomy at my chances of wearing a bikini on holiday in less than three weeks' time. I might, for the first time in four years, have to buy swimming costumes or tankinis. It's a depressing thought, particularly when you spent £3000 to improve an area you hate, and it now looks worse.

I've booked two Endermologie treatments which are supposed to help. These are offered free of charge (the first two) following the procedure, except for £20 to buy the garment that you wear during the treatment.

Think carefully about SmartLipo: it's not the answer to all your prayers

SmartLipo is a fairly new procedure in the UK that has captured many headlines with its claim to be a fast and pain-free alternative to traditional liposuction, with no downtime. The Sunday Times Style magazine joined the bandwagon yesterday, running a full page article on the lipo you can have in your lunchtime.

When you do your research before having it done, you'll find it's very difficult to find anything other than positive articles and the websites of clinics offering it.

So I want to offer some much needed counter arguments. I had SmartLipo three weeks ago in two areas of my abdomen, roughly speaking above and below the belly button. Believe me, it is not the pain-free fast fix everyone seems to think it is.

My SmartLipo was performed by one of the doctors mentioned in the article, in London, and took about one and a half hours. My BMI is under 25 so I am not hugely overweight; I do however have a podgy midriff, and with the beach looming, I wanted to try to reduce it. I had consultations for Ultrashape (ultrasound) and Accent laser, and wasn't considered suitable for either. SmartLipo seemed ideal because unlike traditional liposuction, it improves the condition of your skin. The laser stimulates the production of collagen. At my age, this was a big plus because loose skin often looks worse than tightly packed fat.

I did find the procedure quite uncomfortable at times. I have a very high pain threshold; I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who scream and cry at the slightest thing. My eyes watered at the needle for the local anaesthetic, but I thought that would be the end of it. However, sometimes the probe hits a part of you that wasn't anaethetised and it is very jarring and painful.

Well, after the procedure I felt fine and went home in the compression garment and clutching some antibiotics.

I had traditional liposuction seven years ago on my hips and thighs, and I can honestly say that the next day, the SmartLipo treatment left me in more pain. Previously, I didn't even take the painkillers I'd been given and I felt ok to start exercising a few days later. A week after SmartLipo it was still hard to bend over, and it was two weeks later before I could even contemplate exercise.

Three weeks later I am still wearing the compression garment (they say it's usually worn for 3-5 days) and waiting for the procedure to show some positive effects.
What they don't tell you is that the fat, which is turned to liquid and then metabolised over a period of months, becomes a coagulated mass which gravity pulls downwards. So in my case, I have a very big lump above my belly button which is painful to touch, and visible in a swimming costume or a t-shirt if I don't wear the compression garment.

It hasn't gone down at all. I'm starting to fret that when I go on holiday in late June, I will have to buy swimming costumes because there's no way I can wear a bikini with this abormality.

I did speak to the doctor a week after the procedure and was assured this was perfectly normal and it would dissolve over time.

I thought I should share my experience because everyone thinks SmartLipo is an instant panacea, and when I searched the web for any negative or adverse reactions, I didn't find any.