LOSING weight after the cataclysmic effects of pregnancy is an ordeal for celebrity mums and ordinary housewives alike.

Stretch marks, drooping breasts and floppy stomach muscles, it all seems to go wrong after your little bundle of joy is brought forth into the world.

Matters don't improve for the majority of mums months or sometimes years after giving birth.

Some are left thunderstruck at the effects that 'eating for two' has had on their bodies and shifting the weight becomes a slower, more arduous task than ever before.

Even for Hollywood celebrities such as Catherine Zeta Jones and Kate Winslet, it takes a rigorous regime of sensible eating and regular exercise to get their figures back.

Kate Winslet has spoken out about her ten-month struggle to get her figure back after daughter Mia was born. The weight she put on during pregnancy did not simply 'drop off' as many assume it will. She battled against a four stone gain and eventually turned to 'facial analysis' in order to pinpoint food intolerances.

So how do local mums fare after coming out of pregnancy and what techniques do they turn to in order to slip back into their little black dresses?