Secret of Carol’s 25in waist at 58? 26 miles of hiking every week – and 400 squats!
AT 58, she still boasts a figure many women half her age would envy.
But Carol Vorderman has revealed that maintaining her 25-inch waist requires a gruelling workout regime with around 400 squats a week.
The mother- of-two also enjoys 26mile hikes in the Brecon Beacons every week and avoids the scales, preferring instead to focus on her dress size – currently an 8.
Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine, the presenter said: ‘In terms of squats, or the equivalent of squats, I probably do over 20,000 a year... that’s a lot.’ She added: ‘I haven’t weighed myself since 1999. I don’t actually know how much I weigh and I don’t care because I go on my dress size – thank God for Lycra! I’m probably about a size 8 to 9 at the moment. ‘ I’ve always had a small waist – I think I’m about 25 inches around my waist. If I put on a bit of weight, I know I have, and I go up to a size 11. A larger size 10 – that’s kind of my boundary for where I’m happy.’
But she explained that the menopause changed her body and that having a hormone-releasing mirena coil fitted made her put on weight.
‘As you go through the menopause things change,’ she said. ‘I had what’s called a mirena coil – I put on a stone in two weeks. It gives off hormones as well, so I had it removed and it took me a year to lose the weight.’
She also revealed that her mental health suffered. ‘I went through this terrible hormonal depression,’ she said. ‘And I don’t use that word lightly – it really was awful.’
During the interview, which is broadcast today, she explained that she now uses bio-identical hormone replacement gels made from plant sources.
She said: ‘ Wow has that changed everything! I’ve noticed my skin has improved, my shape has changed, things have grown significantly, and that I know is linked to that [the gels she uses]. Your shape changes.’
Bio-identical hormone treatments have grown in popularity as an alternative to traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) but are not yet recommended by the NHS.
The NHS said they are ‘unregulated’ and ‘there’s no good evidence to suggest they’re safer than standard HRT’.