Gavin & Stacey star Joanna Page has opened up about her diet after losing weight and dropping “a couple of dress sizes”.
Joanna, who turns 50 next year, said she lost weight after making a promise to “get as fit and healthy” as she can. It came after her children started to ask if Joanna and actor husband James Thornton were going to “die one day”.
As a result of their concern, Joanna booked herself in for a number of tests – including a mammogram and a bowel cancer screening – and decided to prioritise her own health. She said that was something she’d struggled with after becoming a mum to Eva, 13, Kit, 11, Noah, nine, and Boe, four.
Joanna Page on her weight gain
Writing in the Daily Mail, the actress revealed that she devoted herself to motherhood, putting herself on the backburner in the process.
She said she stepped back from TV work and poured everything into being a mum. The star also pointed out that she’s very low-maintenance. She cuts her own hair and rarely wears makeup, unless she’s working.
“Then last year, when I turned 48, I realised you can’t control most things in life but you can at least check what’s going on with your own body. So I had a run of NHS health checks – a mammogram, smear test, bowel cancer screening and blood tests – and the BMI test confirmed that I was overweight. I wasn’t remotely surprised. In the process of giving my kids all of me, I let healthy habits slip,” she said.
11 custard creams for breakfast
Jo then revealed her diet before her health kick.
She said that after putting the kids in bed, she’d have “cheese on toast, crisps or chocolate and a late-night coffee”. She also neglected to include any fresh fruit or veg in her daily diet.
The actress never ate breakfast. And, as a result, come 11am when she was hungry, she’s “scoff 11 custard creams”. Joanna also wasn’t doing “much exercise at all”.
Adding ‘the good stuff in’
After getting her results back, she started worrying about diabetes, strokes and heart disease. And she decided that, as a mum of four, she just couldn’t risk long-term health complications.
“For 13 years, my body was for them. And I loved being mumsy. At my heaviest after the pandemic, I was cooking endless pies and potatoes every day. And, like most people at the time, I was drinking more than usual. Annoyingly, I didn’t carry the weight I gained in a Marilyn Monroe, hourglass way. I was like a little round apple, and I was aware that holding fat around my waist was a health risk,” she said.
After finishing breastfeeding her youngest last September, Joanna made some lifestyle changes.
And, rather than depriving herself, she added “the good stuff in”.
“So instead of thinking: ‘No more biscuits,’ I thought, ‘Today I’m adding in water or three apples’. Now I eat three proper meals a day, including a three-egg omelette with ham and cheese in the morning, and I consume less sugar because I’m not snacking between meals. I still have chocolate and crisps but they’re no longer my main food source!” she quipped.
So how much weight has Joanna Page lost?
She hasn’t shared an exact figure, but Joanna has revealed that, six months later, she’s “down a couple of dress sizes”.
She’s also happy she’s kept her “curves and boobs”.
Now, she does “the odd weights workout at home”. As well as that, she does daily walks with her spaniels Bess and Lola. She also does the “occasional swim” at her local lido.
As well as the outward change in her appearance, Joanna also revealed that she feels “sexier than ever”. Not only that, she’s loving “rediscovering the old Jo”.
She said for the first time in a long time, she feels comfortable in her body again and she feels ‘more like herself again’.
