This Morning star Alison Hammond has struggled with her weight for much of her adult life, but now she feels amazing, and finally happy within herself.
At her heaviest, she was close to 30 stone, and used to buy an extra seat on planes to avoid putting her neighbour in an awkward position. Now, she has lost a remarkable amount of weight.
And she has been open about her obesity at various points during her TV career, from her “distressing” experience of having a gastric band, to feeling “embarrassed” by how much she weighed.
So, what was the secret to her success?
Alison Hammond was motivated to lose weight after mum’s death
This Morning host Alison Hammond – on Michael McIntyre’s Big Show this weekend (August 23) – said the death of her mother catalysed the bout of weight loss that resulted in her trimming 13 stone off her weight.
Her mum had type-2 diabetes. She had raised concerns over Alison’s pre-diabetic diagnosis. When she died in 2020, everything clicked. The motivation to shed the pounds was there.
“Mum said to me: ‘If you can, sort out your weight, Alison,’ and that really set it in my head,” Alison told Good Housekeeping last year.
“My mum had type-2 diabetes and she was worried for me, so when I then found out that I was pre-diabetic, that was frightening.”
She does not look down on anyone who goes the route of weight-loss jabs, but Alison Hammond has done it without.
“For people who need to use them, they’re a good thing. But for me, as soon as I hear any scare story, I get frightened. So I haven’t wanted to use them, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t in the future.”
How This Morning star shed 13st
Alison Hammond told Closer earlier this year that she has lost an impressive 13st 7lbs in total.
“I’ve lost a lot of weight. I can remember being nearly 30st, and now I’m in the 17 – 16½st range,” she said.
But she has avoided strict diets and food elimination. Nor does she starve herself, or deny herself the odd treat.
“I’ve got a personal trainer,” she revealed sharing her secrets. “She’s amazing. She trains me when I can train. If I’m working, I don’t train, I’ll go for a walk. But when I’m at home, I’ll go and have a session with her in the morning, just an hour. It might be four days a week.
“I don’t deny myself anything. I eat everything, but in moderation.”
But there is one thing she doesn’t consume. And it might just be the secret to her hugely successful weight-loss efforts.
‘Teetotal is the way forward
During a This Morning segment in July, Alison Hammond and her co-host Dermot O’Leary were joined by contributors Gyles Brandreth and Alison Phillips to talk about reports that more people are quitting drinking.
Alison is all for it, and her support for the move may be one of the factors that led to her successes when trying to lose weight.
“You feel so much better when you go out and have a really good time, you dance all night long, you don’t have a drink. You go to bed and wake up lovely,” she insisted. “Honestly, my life is great – it really is wonderful. Teetotal is the way forward.”
Dermot pushed back, noting that Alison never drank much.
“You can do both. It’s not like you have to go out and live like a monk. I’m perfectly happy to have a couple of glasses of wine and then feel fine and get up the next day and go for a run. We’re in this weird world of extremes now. You just hydrate,” he said.
But she maintained her position: “I’m out. I’m done,” she said, regarding alcohol.
And fair play to her, it appears to have done her a world of good.
Catch Alison on Michael McIntyre’s Big Show Saturday (August 23) at 6.50pm on BBC One.
Read more: This Morning’s Alison Hammond sickened after Ashley James reveals she has head lice
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