Coro blimey! Look at Brooke now
After months of eating clean, Brooke’s feeling lean
Brooke Vincent checks an app on her phone. “Seven months, 24 days and three hours,” she says. “That’s how long it’s been since I had a cigarette.” c After 10 years of smoking, sm the CoronationStreet actress actre – who has played Sophie Webster Web on the TVNZ 1 soap since 2004 – went cold turkey from the ciggies ci late last year. That same day, da she started overhauling the th rest of her lifestyle, cutting the th junk food and starting an intensive 12-week fitness programme. prog The result is an incredible in transformation that tha has completely changed change Brooke’s life. “I didn’t have a clue how to eat,” the 25-year-old 25 admits. “My diet was w so bad, it was a running joke about how many burgers burge I’d eat. It was having an effect on my skin and my metabolism me was starting to change cha too – I couldn’t get away awa with what I used to.” Brooke joined a gym and committed to seeing a personal trainer three times a week, in addition a to sticking to a sugar-free su eating plan. “I never thought th I’d be such a committed c person. I’d I sit down on a Monday M morning mo and
think, ‘Right, I’m going to be really good this week,’ then I’d see a chocolate bar at 10am and think, ‘Ah, I’ll just have that.’
“But it wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it was going to be. I cut out all the rubbish and the sugar, and then I became so aware of how it had all been affecting my personality.
“When I’m eating healthily, I’m so springy in the morning, but if I’ve been eating rubbish, I feel stodgy.”
Grrrlpower!
By the end of the 12 weeks, Brooke was toned, full of energy and 6kg lighter – and, bonus, found she could finally pull out the dress she’d been keeping in the back of her wardrobe “just in case”.
She grins, “It’s a Topshop leopard-print number and it’s so smart – it looks like Dolce & Gabbana. But my boobs, bum and waist had got too big, so I’d not worn it for years. But now I can just about shoehorn myself into it!”
Brooke is no longer tempted by cigarettes and confesses that she’s turned into “one of those annoying ex-smokers”. She says, “When someone comes inside after having one, I think, ‘Ugh, you smell.’ I never thought I smelled like that, but I must have done. I don’t miss it.
“I also cut out so much sugar – I think I was more bothered about that than the cigarettes. It was a massive lifestyle change for me. But I want to stress that I wasn’t standing there thinking I was big or overweight.
“This was never me saying I had a terrible body. I just had a really bad diet and these pictures show what happens when you cut out the rubbish.”
Brooke still has the odd McDonald’s meal, although she no longer has three combos within 24 hours, as she used to. “It’s about balance,” she says, adding that she’s not the “finished product” just yet.
“When you get a boost, you want to keep going. I still train regularly, but it’s more about maintaining and getting the endorphins going to set me up for the day.”
It’s been 14 years since Brooke began treading the cobbles as unlucky-in-love Sophie on the world’s longestrunning soap. Away from Coro, she’s been dating footballer Kean Bryan, 21, after they met through mutual friends, but Brooke insists they’re not about to become a celebrity couple cliché.
“We’re more likely to be going to the cinema with our hoods up. We’re just very normal. There’s nothing much more to say other than we made tea together last night! It’s very easy.”
Marriage and kids aren’t on the cards just yet either. A quick look at Brooke’s Instagram shows several pictures of various little people – she has five godchildren aged between four months and 12 years. She says she takes her role seriously, but she’s not ready for children of her own.
“I love kids. I love messing about with them and being their fun auntie, the one who gives them loads of sweets and then sends them home. But it doesn’t make me broody.
“The one thing I’m very certain about in life is that I want to be a mum. I’ll be a really good mum – I’ve had a lot of practice! But my time will come. They’re very hard work, so I’m happy to have fun with them and then hand them back for now.”