Lorraine Kelly is trying to diet herself back into her pre-pandemic clothes after going up two dress sizes.
The 62-year-old TV star is a new ambassador for WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers.
The presenter started working with the company after going up two dress sizes during the pandemic – from a size 10 to a 14 – and she tells us it’s the brand’s personalised app, which looks after your mind and fitness as well as your diet, which really appealed to her this time.
“I did Weight Watchers decades ago and it really worked for me,” she says.
“But we’ve so moved on [since then] and it isn’t about weight – it’s about the whole body.”
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Explaining why she's keen to get back in shape, she said: "During the pandemic I started comfort eating and that was my downfall – that and not being able to go to my fitness classes.
"I wanted to eat things I’d never usually bother with, like muffins, croissants and doughnuts.
"All the things you know you shouldn’t be having, but you think they’re making you feel better but they don’t.
"So slowly, slowly, slowly over the past couple of years, I’ve gone from a size 10 to a size 14."
Lorraine says she doesn't feel her best at her current size and has a red dress she's desperate to get back into.
"Everybody says, 'But you look OK! And, yeah, I look OK – but I don’t feel great," she said.
"I’ve definitely not got as much energy, because the more you do, the more energy you have, and the classes really gave me that. So I needed a bit of help, and that’s what WW has given me.
"It’s so updated now, it’s all on the app. It’s dead easy and it’s all tailored to you. You don’t even have to weigh yourself if you don’t want to."
Lorraine says she's "got a tummy" and a bigger bum since packing on the pounds.
"I wanted to wear my favourite red dress as I was going to a big ITV event, so I thought, 'Oh, I’ll just try this on.'
"No chance! It’s not even that it didn’t button up, it didn’t even go over my thighs. Before the pandemic I would have got into that and felt good.
"So I ended up wearing a black stretchy dress and I looked absolutely fine, but I didn’t feel fine.
"There was also the occasion where I was talking to the boys from The Wanted on my show and a button pinged off my dress during the interview
"I nearly took one of their eyes out! It was hilariously funny and I didn’t expose myself, but those poor young men! I thought, 'I need to get a grip.'"
Lorraine blames the pandemic and the change to her daily routine for piling on weight.
"Even though I was lucky enough to still go to work every day, all of our routines went a bit askew," she said.
" Looking back on the past two years it’s like a big blob because we didn’t have weddings or things that punctuate the year.
"I’d get home from work and take the dog out for an hour, but I didn’t have any of my fitness classes.
"I don’t cook at all because I’m a rubbish cook, although my husband’s great. But he’d cook these elaborate curries with massive portions. And then sweeties at night time. It was just comfort eating, comfort eating, comfort eating."3
Lorraine is now using the little tweaks from WW to improve her diet.
"Every woman who’s ever dieted knows a diet doesn’t work," she said.
"You’re not going to eat cabbages for the rest of your life! I love curries, but what I do now is I use the recipes in the WW app. You just cook them in a different way or use different ingredients.
"So it’s just wee tweaks. But the most important thing for me is this isn’t about how much space you’re taking up in the world, or how much you weigh. It’s about how you feel.
"Over the past two years there have been times when I’ve woken up and thought, 'Oh my God, it’s all a bit too much!' So it’s about mindfulness too. It’s not about conforming to anyone else’s idea of what’s beautiful, it’s conforming to how you feel."
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