Jessica Rowe reveals how she maintains a fit and healthy lifestyle

Jessica Rowe has revealed the secret behind her famously fit physique – and it all comes down to one exact exercise technique.

Jessica Rowe no doubt left many Aussies with their mouths wide open when she appeared on The Real Dirty Dancing show last year.

It’s not often we see the 49-year-old mother-of-two flaunting her incredibly toned body, so when she showcased her six-pack in a tiny white crop, fans flooded social media to comment on the presenter’s impressive figure.

But if you ask her about that moment, the humble newsreader will tell you she doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.

“I never thought about my tummy like that before,” Rowe tells news.com.au.

“In the show I had nice, firm stockings on which were hiding and holding a number of things together,” she laughed.

“I think the point is, is that I have got cellulite on my bum, I have got stretch marks – that’s what women’s bodies are, and I think it’s important we embrace what we have.”

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Jessica Rowe, 49, left fans speechless after showing off her incredibly toned body in The Real Dirty Dancing on Channel 7 last year.

When it comes to exercise and training, you will mostly find Rowe in a pilates class twice a week for an hour each session.

She is also a lover of weights training, saying it makes her feel “empowered” and “strong”.

“For me, it’s more about mental health. I go with a girlfriend and we have a laugh and try not to fart as we hold our core,” Rowe said with a straight voice before bursting out into laughter.

“There are far wider benefits when you find something that works for you instead of forcing yourself to do something you don’t enjoy or depriving yourself of certain foods. Life is too short.”

The self-proclaimed “crap housewife”, who has been travelling the country meeting local butchers following her campaign with Meat and Livestock Australia, said people these days were too fixated on achieving unrealistic goals.

“My daughter says to me, ‘Mummy, you have a flabby bum’, and that’s fine because that’s what my body is meant to look like,” Rowe said.

The mother-of-two does two hours of pilates a week. Picture: Instagram/JessicaRowe

“I think young women and men need to move away from these ‘perfect’ images of what bodies are ‘meant’ to look like – nobody looks like that.”

Rowe, who is married to fellow newsreader Peter Overton, said she even refused to restrict herself when it came to diet.

“It’s about balance,” she demanded.

“I love sugar and I have a sweet tooth and I am going to indulge but in a sensible way where I don’t feel guilty about it later,” she said.

“I love having a piece of chocolate in bed at night.”

She also has a weakness for almond croissants and cake – “and that’s all OK if it is part of a balanced diet”.

But what you won’t find her doing is slaving over a stove. Her daily diet is purposely made up of simple, easy-to-cook meals because, after all … “Many people know through my website Crap Housewife that I’m a shocking cook who is more than a little domestically challenged."

Cooking is not something that interests the mother-of-two, and she’s not shy to admit it.

In fact, it was a simple hashtag (craphousewife) she started a few years back that led to her book, Diary Of A Crap Housewife.

“The response it got was such an unexpected joy for me because it was something I started to make myself feel better and to laugh at myself about,” Rowe said.

“I thought, rather than feel inadequate about my life, why don’t I be honest about it, not realising it would resonate with so many other people.”

Rowe uses the hashtag to celebrate that we don’t all have to be perfect at everything.

“I only just learned how to cook a steak,” she said.

“I’ve had the best time meeting these amazing butchers who have taught me how simple it can be to cook meat,” Rowe said about her Australia’s Greatest Butcher on Your Block campaign.

“I am a proud ‘crap housewife’, I am not a good cook and what I have really discovered by going and meeting all these amazing butchers is that they're an under-utilised resource.

“I have never been confident cooking meat, I burn everything, but if you actually talk to your local butcher they will tell you exactly what to do and, depending on their expertise, will have already-made meals.”

Rowe said that was perfect for time-poor people.

“I very much do the basics, like steaks, sausages and mince in different ways – for many people we are busy or we haven’t been brought up around people cooking, but you can learn so much just by talking to your butcher,” she said.

Rowe said she got a kick out of meeting fellow “crap housewives”.

“All of us crave a sense of being understood and that comes from being honest about our vulnerabilities, and the more we can share that, the more we feel connected,” she said.

“I see it as a phoenix rising from the ashes, from never feeling like I was enough when I was going through my post-natal depression to finally feeling that I really am.

“Who cares if you're not a great cook or have a messy house – it doesn’t matter, there’s too many other things we can put our energy into.”