Karen Danczuk: “I’m thrilled I’ve lost 3st – but men prefer my curvy selfies!”

After overhauling her diet and fitness regime, selfie queen Karen Danczuk has dropped three dress sizes and tells Closer she’s feeling mor e confident than ever

s Karen Danczuk slips A into size 10 hot pants during Closer ’s exclusive photo shoot, she admits that she still can’t believe the label is correct.

“I still pick up a size 16 when I’m out shopping, so to fit into a 10 is so weird for me,” she laughs. “My weight loss is still sinking in. Every time I step on the scales I can’t believe it says 10st.”

Karen, a former councillor and ex-wife of Labour MP Simon Danczuk, has dropped 3st in the past 12 months, going from a size 16 to a 10 by ditching her fivetakeaways-a-week habit and hitting the gym regularly.

“I used to cover up in baggy longsleeved jumpers and everything was always black. Now I’m tucking my tops into my trousers and I feel so much more confident,” she says.

Despite feeling slim and super confident, the 5ft 6 selfie queen – who is renowned for her love of posting sexy photos on her social media pages – laughs that some of her male fans are less than keen on her new figure.

MAKING A CHANGE

“I feel more confident taking selfies now I’m slimmer, but there are so many men out there who comment on them, saying: ‘Stop losing weight, we liked you more before’ or ‘I miss curvy Karen.’ I think men prefer curves, they honestly do, but I feel better at this size.”

Karen – who’s 32 and mum to Milton, seven, and Maurice, five, from her marriage to Simon, which ended last June – overhauled her lifestyle just over a year ago after feeling frumpy and out of shape.

“I realised I couldn’t even walk up six steps without feeling out of breath, I was almost dying by the top,” she says. “I’d put on so much weight, people kept asking me if I was pregnant. Then one day my son said: ‘Mum, please can you make more of an effort at school, all the other mummies have make-up on and they look nice.’ That gave me the kick I needed to lose weight.”

Karen ditched sugary snacks and takeaways for home-cooked meals.

She reveals: “Before, I was having Coco Pops for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and then either a Chinese or an Indian takeaway in the evening. I could easily have two large chocolate bars a day too and I’d have takeaways five times a week.”

ALL IN MODERATION

She’s swapped her unhealthy diet for delicious home-made food and now typically eats porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch and a home-made pasta dish or chicken, potatoes and veg for dinner.

She says: “I make everything from scratch now, but I’m not too strict – I’ll never give up pasta and I love baking, so I still make cakes for me and the boys. I’ll never be someone who deprives themselves and I’d never get obsessive.”

Karen also took up exercise and now visits the gym three or four times a week. She does a range of cardio activities and says working out is the key to maintaining her weight loss.

‘I realised I couldn’t walk up six steps without dying’

She adds: “My weight has always gone up and down, I’m a serial yo-yo dieter. I was super-skinny in my late teens and since then my weight has gone up and down by 3st at a time. But I know I’m finally going to maintain this weight now because I’m doing regular exercise.”

SURPRISE ON THE SCALES

She adds: “I didn’t have a target and I never thought I’d lose this much weight. I wasn’t weighing myself weekly or anything. In fact, I only knew I’d lost weight because I went to buy some new gym gear and the size 14 was really baggy. I can’t believe I’m now a size 10.”

On our shoot, Karen happily tries on an array of skimpy outfits but admits that she used to cover up and feel self-conscious.

“Before, when I was on holiday, I used to wear a bikini and then a top over that. I’d walk down to the pool in a big towel and whip it off at the last minute when I was lying down,” she says. “Now I don’t care at all, it’s great – I’m so much less conscious on the beach.”

And since splitting from Simon last summer, Karen, who says she’s bisexual, hasn’t been short of attention.

She says: “I’ve dated a couple of younger guys recently, which I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do before I lost weight. I’m enjoying single life, it’s empowering and I feel in control, so if I want to go for dinner with him – or with her – then I can. I don’t think I could ever settle down again now. I’m at a really good point in my life. It’s been an emotional six months but now I genuinely feel great.”