‘I had no respect for myself’
He’s known to millions as Corrie’s Craig Tinker, and over the last few months actor Colson Smith has stunned fans with his dramatic weight loss.
Colson, 21, credits running and forging a more positive relationship with food for his newly trimmed-down frame, even revealing that he was “self-harming with food” before overhauling his lifestyle.
In a YouTube documentary about his weight-loss journey – called Bored Of Being The
Fat Kid – he admits he became “really unhealthy" when he moved from York to Manchester as a teen, and would order a takeaway every evening.
He revealed, “I had a very bad relationship with food. It was negative, it was bingey. It was probably a disorder, it was self-harm.”
But Colson – who plays a policeman in the ITV soap – says he put himself first in lockdown, going for regular runs and working out using kettlebells and weights. To make his diet overhaul easier, he opted to have healthy breakfasts and lunches delivered by Manchester-based firm FitChef.
“I wanted to keep normality in my food,” he said. “So as soon as I saw FitChef’s menu, it made sense. Sweet potato hash for breakfast and lamb hot pot for lunch? Yes please.”
Colson, who has now run two half marathons, has vowed not to reveal how much weight he has lost because he doesn’t want to “preach to others.” Admitting he was “being branded as just the fat kid,” he added, “I had no respect for myself, and now I do. I now believe that Colson deserves 100 per cent effort from Colson,
whereas before, I wouldn’t give myself the effort.”