jennifer love strips down to nothing but a towel before struting her stuff in a red bikini

 

She just shakes off the haters — and the fat goes with it.

 

Weight-plagued actress Jennifer Love Hewitt says a rump-shaking yoga workout is her secret to shedding the pounds.

The 34-year-old star — who plays a sexed-up masseuse in a new Lifetime TV drama — gave Shape Magazine a sample of the moves she claims transformed her newly svelte figure.

 

There are drop-downs, burpees, planks and plenty of hip swivels, all part of the trendy “Buti” workout, which fuses funky dance moves with yoga poses.

“Buti has given my arms and shoulders definition, and helped to lift my butt, too,” Hewitt told the magazine.

 

She does the workout three to four times a week, either in a studio or by watching a fitness DVD at home.

Clad in a tiny two-piece, Hewitt appears on the cover of the March issue of Shape.

But her body hasn’t always been bikini-ready — she was famously criticized in 2007 after an unflattering photo of her at the beach surfaced. “It was a horrible moment I hope to never relive,” Hewitt told the magazine. “The irony is, all it did was make me want to grab as much junk food as I could. I’d never been more hungry! I didn’t just want a hot dog — I wanted the entire hot dog stand!”

 

The “Client List” star decided to get back in shape, vowing to exercise for 60 minutes a day and eat healthy.

She tries not to eat past 7 p.m., but doesn’t fret when she slips up with a bowl of cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream.

“If there’s an evening I want to be naughty foodwise, so be it,” Hewitt said. “I need to treat myself well. Being happy is what really matters, especially these days.”

 

The native Texan also learned to use hardship — like her mother’s death last summer — as motivation.

“When life hits you hard — whether someone you care for dies or your lover leaves you — working out can save your life,” Hewitt said. “It certainly saved mine.”