‘ Jacob completely changed my outlook change on fitness'

We catch up with Holly Hagan to talk health, happiness and – believe it or not – babies! Plus, the Geordie Shore star tells us how she’s feeling ahead of her wedding

- CHLOE ALEXANDROU

Reality star Holly Hagan has always been open about her battle with online trolls and the negative impact it had on her fitness journey. Now, she looks and, more importantly, feels better than ever as she gets ready to marry fiancé Jacob Blyth.

Here, the 28-year-old talks about fitness and losing weight the healthy way, opens up about how Jacob, also 28, helped her recover from bulimia and reveals that the pair are looking to start a family in the not-sodistant future…

Hi Holly! Firstly, let’s talk about your fitness journey because it’s not been the easiest…

I think that’s because I always saw the gym as a place you go to lose weight. It was never about improving my fitness because that wasn’t important to me when I was young. All I cared about was looking good. As a woman in the limelight with all these pressures, worrying about my looks became an obsession and I didn’t care what the consequences were.

That must have been really difficult for you?

It was. When you’re being trolled about being fat, you think that if you get thin it’ll make it stop, but it doesn’t. They will find something to hate. It took me 25 years to work that out!

If you could go back and tell yourself anything in those darker moments, what would you say?

Exercise and eat in a calorie deficit. I was starving myself and eating less than 1,000 calories, but when I met my PT Tyler, he put me on 1,800 calories a day. I thought I’d gain weight, but I lost it slowly and steadily week by week.

What else helped you change your outlook?