Cycling, Pilates, Ballet and Her Daily Bread

Somehow, Victoria Rowell finds time to exercise even though she goes at a double-quick pace. The actress has two children--Maya, 7, and Jasper, 1--and two shows on CBS: “The Young and the Restless” and “Diagnosis Murder.”

“Anyone who works hard--a mom, a CEO, an actress or a writer--has to exercise,” Rowell explained, “to alleviate stress and build and maintain stamina.”

Rowell’s formula is a combination of three workout routines a week, 45 minutes to one hour a pop. She takes ballet, Pilates and a special cycling class at a Beverly Hills gym. She started bicycling after Jasper was born. “I weigh less now than I did before I got pregnant.” The cycling, she said, “will not build bulk, which is attractive to me.”

Bread is attractive too. “I don’t know how people bump bread out of their diet. Not me,” she said. “I’ll have an oversized bran muffin or bagel for breakfast.”

She also drinks water in the morning and decaffeinated coffee or herbal tea. That carries her to lunch, which is the heaviest meal of the day: grilled chicken or seafood pasta plus salad. Dinner is whatever the children are eating--spaghetti with ground turkey, for example. Dessert is sweet time with family. “Sometimes my daughter and I will read a book together while we have some light ice cream.”

Rowell, 37, doesn’t expect to keep up this pace forever. “I’m supposed to be doing this much work in my life right now. Ultimately I know I’ll end up some place back East--on the farm in Maine,” which is where it all started when Rowell’s foster mom gave the little girl a pair of ballet slippers.

* Guest Workout runs Wednesdays in Life & Style.