Kathy Ireland weight gain

Kathy Ireland’s weight gain

As a top model, Kathy Ireland is used to seeing pictures of herself that have been retouched to hide her flaws. But when the former Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl saw a photo taken by her son as she baked cookies at the family's Santa Barbara house recently, the raw image took her breath away.

"He said 'Mom, you look pregnant,'" Ireland tells PEOPLE in its latest issue. "I didn't recognize the person I saw. I saw someone who looked overwhelmed, overstressed, overweight, over-everything."

In her latest book, Real Solutions for Busy Moms. Ireland talks about how mothers tend to put everybody else's needs before their own. Case in point: she had put on 25 lbs. without even really realizing it.

"I was not making enough time to take care of me," says Ireland, 46, a mother of three kids ranging in age from 6 to 14 and CEO of Kathy Ireland World Wide, a $1.4 billion design empire. She also runs a mentoring program for single teen mothers.

To get back on track, Ireland enlisted the help of a friend, who happens to be a personal trainer and nutritionist. Thanks to healthier food choices, including cutting down on snacking and desserts, plus three exercise sessions a week, Ireland says she's almost back to where she feels her best.

Does that mean she wants to get back into a bikini (as Valerie Bertinelli recently did on the cover of PEOPLE)?

"No, that's not my goal," says Ireland, who prefers to wear business suits at her job. "I want to be healthy, to be there for my husband and my kids."

Kathy Ireland World Wide (KIWW) named "Top Women Owned Business in America"

At the top of 2009’s Div500 is Kathy Ireland World Wide (KIWW) with $1.5 billion in annual revenues. CEO Kathy Ireland, “supermodel-turned-super mogul has built a business that generates $1.4 billion in retail sales." She followed her initial acclaim by becoming one of the most successful female entrepreneurs and designers in the world, resulting in her being named the “Top Women Owned Business in America” by DiversityBusiness.com.

The “Top 500” companies will be honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com’s 9th Annual Multicultural Business Conference, taking place April 29 – May 1, 2009 at Disney’s Contemporary resort in Orlando, Florida. Ms. Ireland will be one of the featured keynote speakers at the event. Click here to learn more information about the event.

“Women-owned businesses contribute over $1.4 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy,” said Kenton Clarke, CEO of Computer Consulting Associates International, the company that built DiversityBusiness.com. “It is no longer just “the right thing” to do business with diversity suppliers. Because of recent economic and demographic trends and changes, major corporations are realizing that having a diverse supplier base positively impacts their business revenue from this sector of buyers”.

“This group represents the entrepreneurial spirit that drives our economy and even more. It offers insights into a vastness of cultures and an exchange of ideas that are so valuable in helping me to understand how to reach the needs of today's consumers” commented Gloria Bohan, CEO of Omega World Travel from Fairfax, Virginia.

The Div500 The Div500 is a classification that represents the top 500 women-owned businesses in the U.S., in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services. Major corporations, government agencies and college/universities throughout the country that do business with multicultural and women-owned businesses use the list The Div500 is produced annually by DiversityBusiness.com, the nation's leading multicultural B2B Internet portal that links large organizational buyers to multicultural product and service businesses.

“The Div500 companies are the heroes of women-owned business in America,” said Kenton Clarke. These are the women that have conquered the hurdles and made the sacrifices, building and strengthening their communities, providing jobs and helping to keep the fabric of the U.S. economy together.”

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