I've Lost 2 Stone and Boosted My Confidence

Corrie actress Catherine Tyldesley reveals how weight training has transformed her body shape after giving birth, plus why she’s swotting up on nutrition.

- Jo Willacy

Catherine Tyldesley is a self-confessed exercise addict. She’s also a self confessed fidget. Even as we chat, she’s multitasking, entertaining her son Alfie, now 17 months. The 32-year-old star divides her time between working regular long days filming on the cobbles of coronation street, where she plays bubbly factory worker Eva Price, her family life (she married her PT partner Tom Pitfield in May this year) and the gym. Somehow she fits in three training sessions a week – four or five if her filming schedule allows. And it has paid off. Now a trim and toned size 8-10, Cath has shed 2st since giving birth to Alfie and is rightly proud of her new shape. 

I've kept my curves and I being curvy'

Cath’s first choice for working out is weight training. ‘In terms of body composition, you can’t get any better,’ she says. ‘It’s completely transformed the way I look. I use a lot of free weights – it’s old school body-building moves. People think that if you’re squatting and doing dead lifts, you’re going to look manly with big bulging muscles, but that’s a complete myth. I’ve kept my curves and I love being curvy.’

Perhaps surprisingly, Cath says she’s not naturally athletic. ‘Having a six-pack doesn’t concern me. That’s not what I’m aiming for. My journey with health and fitness is about living as long as I can, being healthy and strong, and feeling confident about myself. Weight training gives me that. I know I’ve got the power to make alterations to my body. I’m more in shape now than I was before I had Alfie.’