I am up a dress size.. big whoop!
Lorraine Kelly tells Abi Jackson she’s not going to worry about weight gain during pandemic
LORRAINE Kelly has gone up a dress size during the pandemic – but refuses to worry about it.
The 62-year-old breakfast telly queen became a fitness success story pre-Covid, proudly revealing she’d dropped three dress sizes and releasing her own body confidence DVD, Work It Out.
But then came the pandemic.
She admitted: “I’ll be honest with you, during the pandemic, I have like most people made far too many visits to the biscuit tin.
“And I’ve not been able to go to my exercise classes. Yes, I know we can do a workout online but it’s not the same for me.”
It would be wonderful if we lived in a world where weight wasn’t such a thing, but body-image can still be a tricky issue for so many of us.
Especially right now, perhaps, with the pandemic having left many of us with a bit of weight gain (absolutely normal, for those who need to hear it!) and Christmas and New Year approaching.
Undoing the damage of toxic “diet culture” is going to take time and work and we can’t necessarily just flip a switch when it comes to how we feel about our bodies.
What we can do, though, is pay more attention to wise reminders to go easy on ourselves and channel a bit more self-kindness.
Lorraine is keen to get back to her routine because she enjoys it and it makes her feel good. But she agrees we all need to be kinder to ourselves and others as we struggle with the pandemic. Lorraine, who has one grown-up daughter, Rosie, 27, said: “It’s fine. I’ve gone up a dress size – big whoop! I’m not going to stress about it, and that’s alright, we just have to cut ourselves a little bit of slack. “Of course you don’t want to go down an extreme road and end up needing the fire brigade to get you out of your bed. But it’s all about moderation, isn’t it? Feeling heathy, feeling fine, feeling good about yourself if you can. “It’s been a really scary time, it really has. We are going to have a lot more people with mental health issues and we are going to need to be talking about that more, and make sure it’s matched with action so people can get support. But absolutely, we need to cut ourselves some slack.”
For Lorraine, the focus during this challenging chapter has been “mental” rather than “physical wellbeing – although that of course is very important,”
She revealed: “What has saved me, mentally and physically, is my dog (Angus), taking my dog out for a walk.
“Honestly, I know that sounds so simple, but he’s a wee border terrier and taking him for a walk every day, and being able to talk to him and tell him everything, because he’s a great listener. That’s been a brilliant thing to do. It gets you outside too. I don’t think we all appreciated before this how important it is to get outside. And that we need other people.”
She acknowledges she was “incredibly lucky” being able to continue going to work safely throughout the pandemic too. “I certainly needed that routine of going into work every day. So I’m really grateful and very lucky I was able to do that,” she admitted. “That and my wee Angus kept me well.”
Lorraine is partnering with Always Discreet to empower women to talk openly about the menopause and live it their way. Find out more at alwaysdiscreet.co.uk
Yes, I know we can do a workout online but it’s not for me