'My tum’s flatter now than before I had kids!'
Monday 23 March 2009
Actress Tricia Penrose was thrilled when she heard that Nikki Sanderson was joining the cast of Heartbeat.
But the minute they began filming together in January 2008, Tricia felt conscious of how much bigger she was than her svelte co-star.
“Nikki looks drop-dead gorgeous when she’s behind the bar with me in Heartbeat,” says Scouse Tricia, 38, who plays barmaid Gina Bellamy.
“She’s a tiny size 8, but while her wardrobe was getting skimpier, mine got frumpier to cover me up. I’d just found out I was pregnant for the second time, so I was getting bigger every day!”
“Even once I’d had my baby boy, Freddie, I came back on set and still looked like the frumpy old aunt next to Nikki – that was when I knew I had to lose weight,” says Tricia, who’s also a mum to Jake, five.
Before falling pregnant with Freddie, Tricia had been a svelte 8_st and a size 8 thanks to making her fitness DVD, Tricia Penrose: Before And After Body Blitz, in 2007. But after giving birth in August last year, 5ft 4 Tricia weighed 11_st and was a size 14.
Even Tricia’s husband of six years, businessman Mark Simpkin, 36, commented on her figure. She says: “He said I was looking dowdy! Mark loves me however I look, but I knew I had to do something. I’d developed a taste for pies, chips and glasses of wine each night. I decided enough was enough!”
So in mid-December last year, Tricia embarked on a healthy-eating and fitness regime. Having already got down to 11st thanks to running around after her kids, she started eating balanced meals and working out regularly and managed to lose a stone in just eight weeks. She’s since lost another half stone too, and is now 9_st and a shapely size 10.
“It was maybe a bit crazy to start my diet just before Christmas!” laughs Tricia, who has been in Heartbeat for 17 years.
“Luckily, we went to Lanzarote for Christmas where it’s so warm, you don’t want to eat much, and there’s lots of fish and salad available.”
But when the family got home it was a different story. “Mark got a bread-maker for Christmas and he’d always bake some overnight, so I’d wake up to the smell of fresh bread. It was agony!” she says.
Undaunted, Tricia stuck to her 1,200-calories-a-day regime. On a typical day she’d have a slice of wholemeal toast,
a poached egg and a tomato for breakfast. Lunch was a jacket potato with tuna or cottage cheese followed by a yoghurt.
And for dinner, she’d have grilled fish or chicken with roasted vegetables. She also ate only healthy snacks like fruit or seeds.
The star also started working out three times a week with personal trainer LeRoy Stewart, doing 30 minutes of cardio exercises plus toning routines using weights. “I used to exercise at home, but after having two children, I find
it easier to go to a gym,” says Tricia. “Jake is at school and Freddie can go to the gym’s crèche.”
The pounds steadily began to fall off. “I lost about 2lbs a week,” says Tricia. “Now my tummy looks flatter than it did before having two kids, which I thought would be impossible!”
Tricia admits she’s been a yo-yo dieter in the past.
“Ever since I turned 30, I’ve struggled with my weight,” she says. “I’d try faddy eating plans like the egg diet, but even if I lost a stone in a week, I’d put it all back on once I started eating properly again. After Jake was born in 2003, I put on weight and didn’t really lose it.”
Tricia didn’t notice how big she’d got after having Jake until she was at the recording of the TV show An Audience With Take That in 2006.
“I was wearing this little gold dress and thought I looked great!” she says. “But then the papers said how fat I looked. That motivated me to do the fitness DVD – I lost 3st and went down to a size 8. But once I’d done that, the papers were saying I looked too thin. You just can’t win!”
Tricia admits she secretly agreed with the criticism: “It doesn’t suit me to be too skinny. My ideal weight is 9_st – I like how I look with a bit of meat on me. I really don’t want to be a stick insect.”
It explains why she wasn’t prepared to diet and exercise excessively for this shape-up.
“I had to work hard for my DVD, but that isn’t practical now with two kids,” says Tricia. “I’m a working mum – I need more than lettuce leaves to cope with 10-hour days on set.”
Tricia’s Heartbeat chums have been very supportive. “Nikki says I look great and Derek Fowlds [Oscar Blaketon] is hilarious!” she says. “He reckons I’m losing too much weight, but I think he’s jealous – he’s got a big belly behind that bar! He knocks me over with it sometimes!”
But as much as Tricia is giggling now, there’s not been too much laughter on set since ITV bosses said they were suspending filming.
“It’s not actually been axed,” says Tricia. “But we’ve not been told if it will ever start filming again. It’s 17 years of my life so I am gutted. I’ll miss everybody on the show like mad but, thankfully, I’ll get to spend more time with Mark and the boys.
“And I actually couldn’t have chosen a better time to lose this weight because it means I’ll feel great when I go for auditions!”
FOR TRICIA'S HEALTHY EATING AND EXERCISE PLAN CLICK HERE
By Francine Cohen