Lucy Mecklenburgh
EX-TOWIE star Lucy Mecklenburgh reveals how she smashed stereotypes to build a multimillion pound fitness empire
The only way is up for the EX-TOWIE star who has built a multimillion pound fitness business
As someone who was propelled into the limelight on ITV’S The Only Way Is Essex in 2010, it is only too easy for Lucy Mecklenburgh to find herself cast as a reality star cliché. But the 27 year old has never allowed other people’s opinions to stop her from following her own path and over the last nine years she has forged a successful and profitable career outside of reality TV.
“To a certain extent, whether we like it or not, we are tarnished with a brush of reality TV – especially with the show that I come from,” Lucy says. “We’re stereotyped to be – I don’t like to say it because I don’t agree with it at all – but it’s always the dumb Essex girl. There’s loads of stereotypes for Essex girls.
“But actually it’s made me work harder because I don’t want to be known as that and that isn’t what I am. I feel like I’m still, honestly, to this day having to defend myself. It is one of my motivations, sadly.”
While some celebrities might be troubled by such negative feedback, Lucy always tries to see the lighter side of things and reveals she finds people’s assumptions about her and her lifestyle quite amusing.
“My favourite one that people say to me on social media is have you ever done a day’s work?” She laughs, “I’m like, ‘Are you serious?’”
In 2013, Lucy left reality show TOWIE and created her own online fitness platform,
Results with Lucy (RWL), alongside her personal trainer and now business partner Cecilia Harris. Over the years she has also turned her hand to fashion and property, resulting in her amassing a multimillion pound business empire.
Despite its success, though, she insists RWL was never meant to be anything other than a few online fitness videos after she had sought Cecilia’s help because she “felt a bit rubbish.” But once fans saw the results of her amped-up fitness programme they were desperate to discover her secret.
“We were putting out little tips and people kept asking for more, so we thought maybe we should put out a little workout video online. It was the wrong kind of idea for a fitness
DVD because I didn’t really like the concept of a fitness DVD as I found that it was quite limiting with regards to how much footage that you can have on it,” Lucy says.
“So we filmed 30 workouts based on the training that we did and uploaded it online. We didn’t have an office. It was just me, Cecilia and her husband, Frank. We sat in Cecilia’s bedroom because it had the best Wi-fi in the house and published them and it all just went a bit mad. Overnight we had a couple of hundred subscribers and we were like, ‘Oh,
Ok, I think we’ve got to do something now.’”
Six years on, and with more than 1,000 fitness videos and hundreds of healthy recipes to choose from, RWL has helped over 250,000 people on their journeys to health and fitness. Now the online fitness platform is expanding further with its newest six-week programme, Beach Body with Lucy.
However, while fitness remains a core part of Lucy’s life, her surprisingly relaxed approach to missing a workout is refreshing.
“We have so much stress in our lives and stress that we put on ourselves, so I don’t think, ‘I can’t train this week – it’s the end of the world,’” she says. “We need to get out of that mindset and just fit it in when we can.
“On Sundays I pencil in my workouts for the week and if I really can’t realistically get them in then that’s fine. I’ll just move on to the next week. It’s about being realistic with ourselves and not adding more stress.”
There is no denying her hard work and dedication to a healthy lifestyle has paid off and Lucy is now reaping the rewards of the effort she has put in. But like so many people, she still has to battle with her everyday insecurities, she confesses.
“I think as a woman we’re never completely happy with our bodies,” she says. “We never think we look perfect – even a Victoria Secret’s model. I’m sure they have body hang-ups, but I think it’s just human nature. I am comfortable with myself and I work hard. I eat well and I train. I suppose I’m up there with the most confident that I’ve been, but I think as a woman I’m never completely happy.”
However, Lucy has no intention of changing who she is or how she looks and again takes motivation from any negativity she may receive.
“Being in the spotlight, there is a little bit of added pressure to look a certain way, but it’s also a good pressure,” she admits. “At the end of the day, this is the way that I look. I wouldn’t
change any part of my body and I don’t want to. there is pressure to do that but I haven’t and I wouldn’t.”
Outside of building her ever-growing business empire, Lucy is extremely happy in her personal life. She has been in a relationship with former Coronation Street actor ryan thomas, who she met during their time on Channel 4 show Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls, since 2017. Just one look at their respective Instagram accounts reveals they are head over heels and that Lucy has developed a strong bond with ryan’s 10-year-old daughter, Scarlett.
Despite the entrepreneur having to keep so many plates in the air, she has finally learnt how to strike the perfect balance in her life, she says. “I’ve definitely been through phases where I’ve overworked and realised that I haven’t seen my friends or my family for three months.
“But I realised that I needed to change my priorities. My weekends now are for my family and my friends. You need to find that balance and put things into the diary because if you don’t it just never happens.
that was one of my New Year’s resolutions,” she adds, “to try and do more things with my family and friends.
“My sister is getting married this year, as well, so that’s super exciting. It means a big family celebration for two weeks away and that will be amazing.”
Even after spending just half an hour in Lucy’s company, it is clear from the way she speaks about herself and her life that it is not all work and no play – something that is also evident from the number of reality tv challenges on which she has embarked over the years.
In 2014, she competed in the BBC gymnastics show, Tumble, and two years later rose to the extreme fitness challenge of a 146km celebrity bike ride through the Pyrenees in Channel 5’s Tour De Celeb.
So is she now ready to put reality tv firmly behind her?
“If something comes up that I’m really passionate about – I’m in talks to do a show at the moment, which is a show that I absolutely love – but for me it’s all about timing and if it’s something that I really love and where I can learn a skill.
“I have got itchy feet and I do want to get stuck into something new,” she adds.
Beach Body with Lucy is a new six-week fitness programme available as part of the Results with Lucy Fitness, Food & Mindset membership. For further information, go to resultswithlucy.com.