Tara shows off her muscles

Muscular: Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
11 April 2012
The Weekender

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For years she has been noted for her slender frame and being maybe a little too thin.

But there was nothing slight about Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's arms as she returned from a shopping trip this weekend.

Muscles bulging, the It-girl heaved a haul of designer bags in one hand and carried a dainty Chanel handbag in the other.

Hiding behind a pair of sunglasses, the 34-year-old kept her eyes down as she strode back to her house on Friday. But there was no disguising her brutish and clearly defined biceps, which she showed off in a small black vest.

While Tara's arm looked almost skeletal, her muscles protruded with the effort of carrying the heavy shopping bags.

The socialite's new bulging muscles looked similar to those on Madonna's arms, which have been branded manly in the past.

The 47-year-old singer spends up to three hours a day exercising and is a devotee of Ashtanga yoga. As well as running, weight training and cycling, she is also a fan of the Gyrotonic Expansion System, in which the body is stretched and manipulated to achieve perfect muscle definition.

Just a year ago Tara was pictured with size six jeans hanging off her and her ribs clearly visible above a stomach so thin it looked concave.

Months before she had broken up with her long-term boyfriend millionaire Matalan heir Jamie Hargreaves.

Her arms were sinewy and the prominent veins drew suggestions she was back on drugs. Tara strongly denied the claims.

These pictures show she has clearly been exercising to build up her muscles in the last year.

It is the latest transformation for the former contestant on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

In July Tara had an operation on her nose, which was caved-in after years of cocaine abuse. The £6,000 operation at the Princess Grace Hospital took three hours.

The reconstructive surgery gave her a perfectly straight nose. Cartilage was taken from her right ear and inserted into the nasal septum.

She had previously spoken of being scared of having surgery to straighten her nose, but when pictures of the damage were published she found the courage to go ahead with the operation.

Last night Tara's spokesman said she had not changed in her exercise regime or diet recently.

He said: "There has been no particular change in her regime or diet."

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