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Natalie sheds 12 inches

She’s on a mission to shape up, and Closer can reveal that since embarking on an intensive exercise and healthy-eating regime last month, actress Natalie Cassidy has already shed 12ins from her vital statistics.

Natalie, 26, recently hired a personal trainer and life coach, who has helped her lose 3ins from her waist, 3ins from her hips, 2ins from each of her thighs and one inch from each arm.

As we revealed last week, Natalie, who’s 5ft 4, has also dropped a dress size, going from a curvy size 16 to a trim size 14.

A source told Closer: “Natalie’s determined to reach her goal weight of 9st 7lbs and a size 12. She’s buzzing with excitement that she’s lost 12ins already, and is shaping up fast.”

And pals say she’s intent on sticking to her new healthy regime – unlike the last time she dramatically lost weight, when she confessed to starving herself and using laxatives.

In a TV interview last week, Natalie revealed how she initially lost the weight because she was sick of being labelled as fat Sonia from EastEnders. She shrunk from 12st to 8st to make her fitness DVD, Natalie Cassidy’s
Then And Now Workout, in 2007, but then found it too difficult to maintain her size 8 figure.

On ITV1’s This Morning, she said: “By doing the DVD I was setting myself up for a fall. I couldn’t maintain it. I need someone holding my hand and telling me what to do. I found it very difficult – people would invite me out for lunch, but I no longer wanted to eat.

“I wasn’t really eating much at all, and was taking laxatives. That was very stupid.

“I look back at pictures of me during that time now and I think I look great. But it just wasn’t very me. My personality changed, I’m one of the most sociable people you’ll ever meet and I love being out.”

Natalie’s new personal trainer, Elise Lindsay, who used to train Coleen Rooney, has been encouraging Natalie to do outdoor workouts.

On top of this, Natalie has taken up kickboxing. The ex-EastEnder has also changed her diet to include more low-GI foods, including porridge, fruit and veg – but still indulges in the odd glass of wine or curry.

When asked during the interview if she was upset by the public attention she got from gaining all the weight again, she replied: “No, it doesn’t hurt at all. I did it,

I could do it again and maintain it, but I don’t want to because it’s much too hard for me.
I just want to be healthy.

“All I can say is that you live and learn from these things, I’ve got a balance now. I cannot be a boring person. I cannot not be able to go and have a lovely meal in a restaurant. I’m happier being able to live
a normal life now.”

And friends now say Natalie – who split with her fiancé Ben Porter in March – is getting attention from men, and realising she doesn’t need to
be super-thin to be happy.

“Natalie wants to be a healthy 26 year old,” said our source.

“Her life’s so much better now. She gets lots of male attention, she’s had a string of job offers, and she’s feeling positive after a difficult year.”

But when asked last week if she thinks she’ll ever be able to forget her weight battles and the press attention, Natalie said: “In all honesty I couldn’t sit in Soho and order a burger without looking over my shoulder, but hopefully that will get better.”

By Lottie Lumsden