Exercise Made Me Stronger

Overcoming her unhealthy relationship with food, Real Housewives of Cheshire star Ampika Pickston, 3 5, started walking to get back on track.

- Natalia Lubomirski

If you’d told me over a decade ago that I’d be a fit, healthy and happy size 10 and exercising five days a week, I wouldn’t have believed you. Back then, looking down at my 17st body, I felt anything but.

Growing up i was active, taking ballet, tap, modern and jazz lessons three times a week. 

But aged 15, as exams loomed, I gave up dancing to focus on my studies. Over the next couple of months the pounds piled on, my legs lost their shape and cellulite developed on my bum. This was the beginning of almost eight years of an incredibly unhealthy relationship with food.

Feeling under pressure to look thin like other teenagers, i went on starvation diets. 

I would cut out food for three days, drinking just water. Feeling weak and light-headed, this instigated a three-day carb binge. Disgusted at my behaviour, I’d starve myself again – and so this extreme yo-yo dieting continued. I was out of control. No one knew how much I was suffering. I hid behind a confident veneer, but I was deeply unhappy.

During my pregnancy with my son Jake, when i was 23, i put on 7½st.