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Fitness expert Stacey Valant has a body to "abs"-olutely die for. Not one Christmas cookie has migrated to her stomach. Not one French fry has found its way to her thighs.

Her kids don't call her "Her Royal Thighness." But the petite, blue-eyed, pilates instructor was queen for a day when she auditioned to replace co-host Kathie Lee on the Live with Regis show.

The effusive 36-year-old Valant made her own audition tape at the last minute. "I procrastinated and procrastinated until I only had 20 minutes to make the show's midnight deadline," she says with a smile.

"I hurriedly made my video by propping it on my little mini-trampoline which I stabilized with little Barbie doll dresses. After the third take, I rushed the tape to FedEx." Upon arrival, her homemade audition tape caught the attention of the show's producers. Out of 10,000 entries, hers made their top 10. The audience then had a say-so.

"They voted me to the Top Five list, which landed me a guest hosting spot," she bubbles. She flew to New York with her mother and sister for her Oct. 4, 2000, appearance.

"Regis was funny and very nice! I only talked to him for 30 seconds before we went on the air, but it was like sitting next to someone you've always known. Except I was fighting the urge to run around the set and scream, 'I can't believe I'm on Regis!' ... I loved him and I'm sorry that's he's married because we totally hit it off!" laughs the divorcee.

"She had never been in front of a television camera before," her mother, Jan Norwood, recalls. "So I held my breath when she walked out on the stage. I don't think I took a breath until the show was over! Her sister, Haley, said, 'I was so nervous for her. If it had been me, I would have been donning a pair of Depends!'

" Valant didn't appear nervous. She came across as funny, poised and confident. Though Kelly Ripa ultimately got the job, Valant's appearance garnered praise from members of the local media, including that of Channel 13's news anchor Anne Ryder. "Stacey was as natural a television talent on that show as anyone I've ever seen who had no formal training.

"In the TV business, they call that the X-factor — that certain something that comes through the screen. She did a great job and made a lot of people proud," proclaims Ryder.

Describing her friend, Marketing Unlimited owner Jenny Page says, "Stacey is a role model for young women everywhere. She has it all together and shares her strength emotionally as well as physically. She's vivacious and her laughter is infectious.

"They ought to put Stacey on a phone recording so when you're having a bad day, you could dial up to hear her laugh. She has the kind of laugh that would carry you for days!"

Valant began her days as the older daughter born to social worker Jan Norwood and Kokomo dentist Dr. Don Norwood. With Haley — her even-higher-energy younger sister — Valant spent an idyllic childhood living on Rocking Horse Ridge, the family's 12-acre horse farm located outside Zionsville.

Always very athletic, she was only 4 years old when she started riding horses. By 5, she was riding competitively, and she was foxhunting with her family at age 6. But while a first-grader at Park Tudor School, she suffered separation anxiety from her mother. "I would wail, 'I want my Mommy' so loudly in the first grade that all the other kids in the class would start crying and then the teacher would send me out into the hall," says the funny lady of fitness.

In the fourth grade, the Brownie Scout transferred to Eastbrook Elementary. A cheerleader for Lincoln Junior High, her after-school activities also included gymnastic classes and tennis lessons. She rode in foxhunts with the New Britton Hunt Club in Spencer, Ind., and in horse shows at Churchill Downs as a member of the Pony Club, which is one of the leading junior equestrian organizations in the world.

"I got my work ethic from living on the horse farm. Before we left for school in the morning, we had to feed and water the horses and clean out their stalls. By the time I was 10 years old, I was mowing the grass and raking the leaves on that 12-acre pasture. 'Though it may have looked like it, Mom and Dad didn't spoil us. When they ordered us to take out the trash, it didn't bother them that the driveway was a quarter of a mile long!" she remembers.

The adoring daughter cherishes the childhood memories her mother created for her daughters. "Some of my best memories are of my mom coming into our room and whispering, 'There's a full moon tonight. Come on, let's go ride!' And we would ride bareback in the moonlight!"

A painful moment occurred when her cheerleading career ended at the high school level because she couldn't do a flip. Auditioning even then, she went to cheerleading tryouts and announced, "I can't do a flip but I can do a really neat cartwheel and round-off!

"They said, 'Thank you! Next!' "

A consummate athlete, she turned to tennis, playing No. 1 doubles on the varsity team. She and her doubles partner were undefeated during her junior year. The following year, the popular Pike High School student was crowned prom queen.

What she really wanted to do was go into acting, but her parents frowned on acting as a career. No money in it. The closest she came to being on stage was when she auditioned for a role in the high school's production of Camelot. "I thought I did really well. I filled the room with my whispered singing, 'Camelot! Camelot!' And you know what they said? 'Thank you! Next!' "

She fared better working summers as an orthodontic assistant for her father. That was the favorite part of her job Ñ just being with him. But working for her dad had a flip side.

"I could never call in and play hooky!"

Since high school, Valant's exercised a lot of options.

She attended Indiana University, but dropped out during her sophomore year and moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. To pay for her acting classes, she found a job at the New York Health and Racquet Club as a gym floor instructor. Her first duty in the morning was to open the door for Charleton Heston. "He was always there before me and he was so nice," she recalls.

Her moment of triumph occurred when the Plaza Hotel called to schedule Jon Bon Jovi for a workout. "The Slippery When Wet album had just come out and I had such a crush on him that I ran over to Saks Fifth Avenue and bought powder and make-up for our session," she laughs. "But when he came to work-out, all he did was a few little bicep curls. Then he asked for the masseur. I hissed, 'Oh, no. You're mine! I've waited for this moment and you're not going anywhere!' Nobody recognized him. They were more taken by his bodyguards, who were lifting a stack of weights."

While her acting career never took off, she muscled into the fitness business and eventually managed 35 employees before she followed her New York beau to St. John in the Virgin Islands.

"I dropped out for a year and did some soul searching. I felt like I was always fighting with people who just saw a blonde on the outside and didn't see what I was all about on the inside. I have a lot of intelligence. I have a lot of views. Uh, what was it you were asking me? Oops, I'm having a blonde moment!" she shrieks with laughter.

Trying to get her life back on track, Valant returned to I.U. and exercised her options with a major in sports medicine and a minor in athletic training. It didn't work out. Dropping out again, the free spirit moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., where she lived for the next two years.

Back home again in Indiana, she seriously started personal training and opened a state-of-the-art personal training gym in Fishers called The Training Room. She married John Valant and gave birth to fraternal twins, daughters Morgan and Madison. "Business boomed when I stepped out of the gym and began private training to accommodate my mommy schedule," she says.

When the couple divorced four years ago, Stacey weighed her options. "I had been in weight training for 17 years when I decided to get my certification in Pilates Method. I spent $3,000 and a year traveling to Cincinnati twice a week to get my certification. But it was worth it. It's great exercise for young and old, those who are ailing, and those who are in prime condition and looking for an edge," she explains.

"My clientele has really changed since I've done pilates because pilates is so focused on postural problems. The people I get now are people who have a lot of pain due to postural problems: back, neck, knees, hips and joint.

"Pilates is very gentle so it's good for osteoporosis, fibromyalgia and M.S. I also have a special program designed for women who have had radical mastectomies and need to get their strength and range of motion back but don't know how to.

It's no stretch to say her guidance isn't cheap. Her sessions run $75 for one hour, private in the studio; $55 for a duo session; $45 for a trio session; and $100 for one hour of in-home training.

Although she hasn't seen an increase in stress-busting exercise since the Sept. 11 attacks and anthrax scares, she cautions compulsive exercisers. "Unless you are training for a triathlon or marathon, keep in mind that balance is important.

" She ought to know. She was training for the Eco-Challenge (the world's premier Expedition Race that includes trekking, whitewater canoeing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, scuba diving, mountaineering and mountain biking) when she found out she was pregnant.

"There is such a thing as overtraining and it is very real. Some people are so fanatical about working out that they forget that muscle heals and builds itself up during rest that a 24-hour rest period should happen 24 hours after your workout. If you feel you need to workout five to seven days a week, then definitely incorporate cross training by alternating the muscle groups trained every day. Put in your time in the gym. But don't forget about the important things in life."

Being there for her 6-year-old twins is the most important thing in Stacey Valant's life. "But I still want to pursue acting in my spare time. I'm with the Helen Wells Agency and I've done several commercials, including the Blossom Chevrolet spots. But I would love to get into that more," she confesses.

Haley says, "My sister went on national television, hosted with the best of the best, and did an outstanding job. I hope local news directors will take another look at her talent, find a fit and offer her an opportunity. She's definitely got the juice. Who is going to give her a squeeze?" Stay tuned to Stacey. Local fans feel Regis made an egregious mistake. All she needs is a big break to really exercise her options.