While Simon Cowell’s bank balance is growing at a fast and steady rate, the same can no longer be said of his figure.

It appears the X Factor judge may have made a 2007 New year’s resolution to banish his man boobs – and stuck to it.

This time last year, Cowell was pictured holidaying in Barbados, keeping abreast of the rest, with an expanding chest.

His devotion to getting himself in shape has clearly paid off and 33-year-old Miss Seymour would have had to look long and hard to find his former love handles.

The couple were joined on their three-week sunshine break by Cowell’s mother Julie and his best friend Michael Winner, 72, who has himself shed the paunch – but more through a debilitating illness than a concerted exercise regime.

Cowell, who is Britain’s highest paid TV star with an estimated fortune of £100 million, recently told the Daily Mail about the effort he took to preserve his looks.

He said: “I am vain but I cannot think of one person on TV who is not. It is the nature of the beast.

“I have had Botox but not in an obsessive way. I just like to take care of myself. I am eating a lot better and have cut out the chocolate biscuits and crisps.

“I work out, take lots of vitamins and think I look good for my age.”

Perhaps mediating between his warring fellow X-Factor judges Dannii Minogue and Sharon Osbourne has kept him on his toes.

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