Super slim star beats the bulge

Dec 28 2009 By Diane Parkes

Coleen Nolan is matter-of-fact about her weight issues. Having shifted five stone, and with the release of her third fitness DVD about to hit shops next week, she may be an inspiration to many women but she knows her body size will continue to be an issue.

I think I will always struggle with my weight, I have done all my life, says the Loose Women presenter and member of the famous Nolan Singers. I will always be prone to putting on weight but I am aware of that and I am all right with that. I will never get back to putting that five stone back on. I may put on 10lb but then I will think Oh my God I need to lose it and I will lose it because it is easier to deal with it and lose 10lb than to wait and then have to lose five stone.

Coleen was prompted to slim down after her fiance, musician Ray Fensome, proposed and she was horrified by the thought of being a big bride. You go to these wedding dress shops and all the dresses are in a size 12 and they dont fit, she says. And then you just think I dont want to be fat on my wedding day and look back at the pictures and feel sorry about how I looked.

Once she took the matter in hand, cutting the food intake and upping the exercise, mum-of-three Coleen shifted the inches and has so far kept them off. But she knows people are waiting in the wings for her to put it back on. Having featured in programmes like Celebrity Fit Club and now selling her third exercise DVD, it is little surprise that her figure is as talked about as her presenting or singing talent.

If you make fitness DVDs then you expect that your weight will be scrutinised all the time, she says. But the problem with the paparazzi, and I do actually like the paparazzi, is that they are always looking for a picture of you looking awful. So you lean over to pick up your shopping and they get a picture of you with a double chin or from the back and of course you look awful. But that doesnt mean you have piled on the pounds it is just a bad picture. I never said I had a washboard stomach.

This time 44-year-old Coleen has teamed up with GMTVs Deanne Berry to create a fitness regime with four routines of 20 minutes each. With this DVD I wanted it to be real, says Coleen. I always think that when you see these DVDs and the women arent even sweating it just doesnt look realistic. In this one you see that it really is hard work. It is good for you but it does work you.

Deanne and I worked on the routines. She choreographed most of it but every now and then I would say look, I cant do that and I dont think most normal women can and she would change it. And you do see us sweat. In the fat burning section you see me get to a point where I actually think I am going to die and I look over at Deanne and she still looks beautiful and fine. But that is the reality of exercise it is hard work but it works.

Coleen, who earlier this year donned skates to compete in the television series Dancing on Ice, is also aiming to meet her viewers where they are. I am saying I am happy with the shape I now have, she says. I am 10/12 bottom and 12/14 top as I am busty and that is where I want to be. I will never be Deanne but that is OK because I am who I am. I am confident with who I am. I do enjoy shopping a lot more since I lost the weight. I like to wear fitted clothes where before I would have tended to wear non-fitted things.

I dont want to be worrying all the time if I want to eat a biscuit with my cup of tea then I will. And I dont want to feel guilty or a failure if I binge one day. I will just eat less the next day.

And Coleen, who this autumn was back on tour with her sisters, has thrown out the scales.

I used to be on the scales all of the time but now I hate them. You spend all week being really good and then you stand on the scales and you have only lost 1lb. I tend to count inches instead as the scales never really tell you how it is.

* Coleen Nolans Lets Get Physical DVD is released by Universal on December 28 for s19.99.