From Coleen Nolan’s ‘miserable’ skinny stage to why Nadia Sawalha’s WON’T calorie count – Loose Women diet secrets
THE Loose Women ladies are the stars of daytime TV and are known for their candid conversations.
But many of the iconic panellists have also opened up about their weight loss journeys and relationship with food.
While many of them champion embracing your body and female empowerment, some have been honest about their diets and how they stay trim.
Nadia Sawalha
After years of yo-yo dieting Nadia Sawalha, 60, has ditched restrictive eating and learned to feel confident in her own skin – partly thanks to her Loose Women co-stars.
The size-14 presenter now regularly strips off on social media to promote body positivity and favours “intuitive eating” — an approach to food that rejects diets, meal plans and willpower.
Nadia, who was a founding Loose Women member in 1999, says: “You don’t restrict any foods and go with what you really want, so one day it might all be bone broth soups, veggie juices and brown rice but the next it could be burger and chips.
“There are literally no banned foods, so there’s no bingeing. I only eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’ve had enough.”
She’s previously opened up about doing the 16/8 intermittent programme, and said: “Intermittent fasting is not a diet.
“It’s a way of eating for life that works brilliantly for me.
“It’s about more energy, mental clarity, freedom from the diet culture, oh yeah, and weight loss. And it doesn’t cost anyone a penny!”
She also had CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy] to break the pattern of negative thinking towards her body.
However, Nadia credits a 2017 underwear shoot with her Loose Women co-stars Stacey Solomon, Jane Moore, and Coleen Nolan, for helping her to finally accept herself.
She shared: “When people ask me what the secret is, it’s every single day telling the voices to, ‘shut the f*** up’.”
Jane McDonald
A few years ago, Jane wowed fans with her incredible weight loss – and revealed the secret to her success is eating one type of bread.
The TV star, 62, lost a whopping four stone transforming her body from a UK size 12-14 to eight.
Jane signed up to ITV‘s Sugar Free Farm in 2017 – where she ended up shedding weight.
While on the show she discovered a different kind of bread that would aid weight loss because it doesn’t have any yeast in it.
On the TV show she met nutritionist Angelique Panagos, who gave her a bread recipe that changed the way she ate forever.
Jane told the Daily Star: “The only bread I eat is one that I’ve got a recipe for from Angelique.
“It’s got no yeast in it and it’s made with lots of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, wholemeal flour, oats and yogurt of all things.
“It’s literally 20 minutes and it’s made – ready to put in the oven.”
She also cut out “white carbs”, including crisps, white bread, pasta and flour.
She starts her day with a green smoothie, and told the Daily Record: “I blend up a mixture of raw greens, flax seeds, chia seeds, spinach, kale, mint and a banana. It really is lovely.”
Coleen Nolan
Coleen Nolan, 60, who has been a Loose Women panellist since 2000, is known for her honesty and tackling difficult personal topics on-air, including relationships, cancer in her family, and body image.
She previously shared how she did a juice diet to lose three stone in three months for her wedding.
Speaking on the show, she said: “I’ve done every single diet on the planet, one of which was just pure liquid diet. Did it work? Absolutely. Three stone, three months – that’s what it said it would do and that’s what it did.
“At the time I had a goal and it was for my wedding and I thought I’m never going to get this weight off.”
After battling to keep her weight under control for years, Coleen cashed in on the celebrity fitness DVD craze, releasing four of her own between 2007 and 2009.
With a gruelling diet and workout regime, she had shed 4st and dropped from a size 18 to a 10 – but it was an unhappy time for her.
“I looked amazing, actually,” she says. “I would say that’s probably the best I’ve ever looked.
“Funnily enough, I got offered a lot more primetime jobs.”
But the 5ft 7in star says the constant exercise and dieting made her miserable.
She revealed: “As a person, I was probably the unhappiest I’ve felt. I lost me somewhere,” says the mum-of-three.
“I lost my personality and didn’t know who to be any more.”
The presenter’s weight has fluctuated over the years, and admitted in 2021 she was told she needed a gastric band and to lose weight if she wanted a successful career on the box.
Coleen said: “I have had a head of a big TV company saying: ‘if you want to get in prime.”
Now she has switched to a vegan lifestyle which has helped her lose two stone gradually.
Denise Welch
Long-serving panellist Denise Welch, 67, who has delighted fans with her no-filter honesty since 2005, has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past decade.
She lost over two stone with LighterLife and kept it off for more than 10 years – although admitted giving up alcohol made it worse.
The LighterLife programme includes shakes, snacks, and carefully-measured daily meals, along with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which educate clients about emotional triggers for overeating.
She admitted: “When I gave up drinking 10 yrs ago I gained a sweet tooth and very quickly one addiction was in danger of being replaced by another.
“I’d put on two stone and was aware that my knees were aching and my breathing was impaired.
“With the help of @lighterlife and working with a mentor, I changed my relationship with food. I lost two stone in two months and use those tools to this day.”
Linda Robson
Linda Robson changed her diet and lifestyle habits following a health scare in 2018 and lost two stone.
Linda disclosed to a fan at the time that she had cut out on sugar, along with limiting her carbohydrate intake and alcohol.
She had vowed to change her diet in January 2017 after she was warned by doctors that her drinking habits – which at the time was almost a bottle of wine a night – could put her at risk of diabetes.
She dropped three dress sizes in a year with her healthy overhaul, and said: “I’ve stopped weighing myself but I think I’ve lost about two and a half stone. I’ve gone from a 16 to 18 dress size down to a 12 to 14.”
Brenda Edwards
Earlier this year, Brenda Edwards, 56, who has been on Loose Women since 2019, revealed the truth behind her jaw-dropping weight loss after dropping three dress sizes.
Brenda said: “Every time I seem to come off the show recently, I do get lovely viewers saying to me you’ve lost a lot of weight, are you on a well-known jab.
“I’m just working, very busy, just relooking at how I treat my body, and swimming!”
How to lose weight safely
Losing weight should be a long-term commitment to healthier living, rather than any drastic measures.
The NHS tips – which can be adopted slowly – include:
- Get active for 150 minutes a week – you can break this up into shorter sessions
- Aim to get your 5 A Day – 80g of fresh, canned or frozen fruit or vegetables count as 1 portion
- Aim to lose 1 to 2lbs, or 0.5 to 1kg, a week
- Read food labels – products with more green colour coding than amber and red are often a healthier option
- Swap sugary drinks for water – if you do not like the taste, add slices of lemon or lime for flavour
- Cut down on food that’s high in sugar and fat – start by swapping sugary cereal for wholegrain alternatives
- Share your weight loss plan with someone you trust – they can help motivate you when you have a bad day
Read about:
- The five fat loss foundations
- The calorie formula for weight loss
- The perfect portion sizes for meals to lose weight
- Sun Health’s 8-week weight loss kick start plan