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Daily Record
Lifestyle
Lucy Farrell

Inside Dawn French's incredible 7.5 stone weight loss down to 'joyless' but easy changes

Dawn French has slimmed down since her TV days as The Vicar of Dibley - and it's all down to "practical" lifestyle changes.

Back in February, the comedian took to the red carpet to attend the opening night of Oklahoma at the West End. Sporting her trademark bob - in natural grey - she also wore a stylish black ensemble that highlighted her significantly slimmer waist.

While Dawn looks fabulous, it turns out that a health scare prompted the funny lady to lose a whopping 7.5 stone. But it wasn't a "magic wand" or gruelling workout and diet routine that prompted the results.

Dawn lost a whopping 7.5 stone before undergoing important surgery (Joe Maher/Getty Images)

It turns out that by simply eating less and moving more, French was able to bring her weight down from 19 stone to 11.5 before undertaking an important surgery.

Suspecting that she could be suffering from uterine cancer, her doctor recommend she undergo a hysterectomy to remove her womb, but she needed to slim down first. To do this, she said she stuck to eating fewer calories and "weeks and weeks" of walking.

The comedian has gone from 19 stone to 11.5 thanks to making small lifestyle changes (Getty Images)

Speaking to Hello magazine, Dawn said: "When I was due to have my hysterectomy the doc told me that if I could lose some weight before the op, they would be able to do it via keyhole, and I would recover in three weeks or so.

"Otherwise it would be big open surgery, and three months to recover. So, I set about dropping a few stone."

While she took simple steps to overhaul her lifestyle, it wasn't without its challenges. "No magic wand," she added. "Just tiny, joyless low-cal eating and lots more walking for weeks and weeks. It was grim.

"I lost seven-and-a-half stone. I could have the keyhole surgery. Great. That’s all it was, practical."

French, pictured back in 2022 has slimmed down over the years (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Getting healthy doesn't mean taking up fad crash diets or excessive workout routines. A recent study has shown that doing just 11 minutes of walking a day is enough to cut risks of an early death.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge ultimately found that doing a small amount of exercise is better than doing nothing at all - and can reduce risks of serious conditions like heart diseases, stroke and cancer.

When it comes to eating, small changes can also make a big difference. Health expert Michael Mosley previously revealed that even cutting three particular fruits from your diet can aid weight loss.

He even encourages slimmers to avoid diet dairy foods when dieting as the full fat versions are better for health.

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