A friend told Closer: "Denise won’t diet - it’s just not her. She doesn’t believe in it and thinks the whole size zero obsession is ridiculous. But she does believe in healthy living and LA is the perfect place for her to adopt a healthy lifestyle."

Denise, who was recently named best bikini body in a Grazia poll, swapped junk food for fruit smoothies and has taken up yoga and dancing classes to help her shape up, according to the friend.

"She’s not cut out anything 100%. But she’s more active and in the sun she doesn’t crave the heavy meals she did at home."

Denise top in ’bikini body’ poll - 30 April 2020
Denise Van Outen has come top of a poll to find the most desired "bikini body".

The curvy look is back in according to the survey, with the likes of Coleen McLoughlin and Charlotte Church making the list.

Grazia magazine concealed the identities of the celebrities while asking people to name their favourite bodies, and 33-year-old Denise, who is a size 10, came out top - while skinny actresses like Mischa Barton and Keira Knightley did not make the list.

The Essex girl beat Penelope Cruz, also a size 10, into second place, followed by Coleen (size 12), actress Kate Hudson, (size 10), and svelte Lost star Evangeline Lilly.

Charlotte Church and Tyra Banks, both a size 14, make sixth and seventh place respectively, followed by Cameron Diaz.

Denise said: "I used to be a size zero but I looked awful. Being a normal size is fine."

Grazia editor Jane Bruton said: "It goes to show that what women really aspire to is a normal-looking figure like Denise’s."

The magazine surveyed 1,000 people in the online poll.

Grazia Top Eight Bikini Bodies:

1. Denise Van Outen

2. Penelope Cruz

3. Coleen McLoughlin

4. Kate Hudson

5. Evangeline Lilly

6. Charlotte Church

7. Tyra Banks

8. Cameron Diaz

Denise’s Proposal - Oct 9, 2020
Television personality Denise Van Outen once asked George Michael for a date... at a shopping centre.  The stunning blonde admitted she sent the gay singer an email, asking if he’d like to see a film with her.

The Daily Mirror reports the 32-year-old star - who once dated hat-wearing Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay - suggested they meet at the cinema at Lakeside shopping centre in Essex, "I’m so sad," she is quoted by the paper as saying. "Sometimes I haven’t a clue."

But Denise needn’t worry about it not working out - as it seems she has another star lined up.  Little Britain’s David Walliams says he and the former Big Breakfast presenter made a pact that if they both failed to find love in two years, they would marry each other, "I do have a marriage pact with Denise Van Outen. We went on holiday together and we said that if we weren’t married to anybody else in two years time we’d get married," he revealed on Michael Parkinson’s talk show.

Is Denise looking for love? Aug 31, 2020
Form an orderly queue lads... because it seems Denise Van Outen wants a boyfriend. The stunning 32-year-old is still single after a series of failed romances, and admits she thought she would be in a relationship by this point in her life. "Life hasn’t turned out how I expected. I thought I would be settled with a family by now," she told Eve magazine.