Six years ago, Denise Welch, 60, decided it was time to make a change. She’d already given up alcohol, which, she said, was “one of the best decisions I’ve ever made”. But, while some people may shed huge amounts of weight in the process of ditching the beverage, the actor and Loose Women star saw the opposite. Rather, she replaced the drink with sugary treats, a habit which soon saw her pile on two stone.
My knees were hurting, and I felt quite breathless
Denise Welch on beginning her weight loss journey
“There is this thing that if you take alcohol out of your life, you immediately lose weight, but actually, it’s very often the case that the complete opposite is true,” she said during an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk.
“Because, if you are an addictive personality, which I am, you very often replace one addition with another.
“So, I gave up alcohol and started to replace it with what could have been a potential food addiction, and obviously as well I had years of sugar, from the alcohol, that had been surging through my veins suddenly removed. That had to be replaced by something.”
Initially, Denise didn’t worry about putting on a bit of weight, instead focusing on the pride which she quite rightly felt from having given up alcohol.
But, she soon realised she had put on two stone - and it resulted in problems with her health.
“My knees were hurting, and I felt quite breathless," she explained. "I’m quite good at self-analysing myself about many things and I thought, ‘I’m in trouble here. I’m eating like I was drinking.’”
Her habit also saw her secret eating, as well as overeating.
Denise Welch weight loss: The Loose Women star and actor shed 2 stone in 2 months (Image: LIGHTERLIFE)
With her wedding approaching, Denise decided to overhaul her lifestyle - and shared her hopes to do so very publicly: during a chat on Loose Women.
It was around this time when LighterLife got in contact with her - and Denise decided to give the weight plan a go.
“I knew that this was something I wanted to do for life, because I was potentially going to destroy my life with an eating disorder: a potential food addiction as opposed to an alcohol addiction,” she said.
As well as eating the LighterLife food packs, Denise took part in group cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) counselling calls.
The actor went on to explain how these total dietary replacement
