How Anna regained her figure

The speed with which Anna Friel regained her figure after giving birth to her first child did not go unnoticed.

Now the actress has revealed how she did it - with a wetsuit and a vacuum cleaner.

While the props might suggest a bizarre and potentially risky DIY regime, they are actually the components of a hi-tech alternative to liposuction which dispenses with the need for surgery.

Miss Friel, 29, gave birth to daughter Gracie in July and was immediately under pressure from studio bosses to have a 'bikini body' in time to film nude scenes by October.

So she turned to a machine called the Hypoxi Vacunaut, which is designed to give its user a non-surgical tummy tuck.

When she works out, Miss Friel pulls on a rubber bodysuit attached by three small hoses to the Vacunaut machine. This sucks out the air between the body and the suit, creating a vacuum around the stomach which is said to increase blood flow in that area.

The manufacturers claim the extra blood absorbs fat, which is metabolised and excreted in sweat, which in turn is sucked out by another of the hoses.

Miss Friel says she saw results after only five 40-minute light workout sessions and she now uses Vacunaut five times each week. 'I wear this spaceagelooking wetsuit that wires me up to a suction pump as I walk on a treadmill,' she said.

The actress, whose partner is actor David Thewlis, 42, also devised a post-natal diet and exercise regime with personal trainer Josh Salzmann - the man who prepared Angelina Jolie for her Tomb Raider role.

It involves training for 30 minutes three times a week and eating five or six small meals a day.

Despite her efforts, Miss Friel is keen to point out that she hates the pressure put on new mothers to get in shape.

'You're judged if you gain it, you're judged if you lose it,' she said. 'I just want to get into my natural shape and maintain the energy and be able to enjoy my career and family,' she told Grazia magazine.

It should, incidentally, be noted, that Miss Friel was given free loan of a Vacunaut machine at her home. Sessions normally cost around £400 for 12. She is not paid to endorse it.