Former TOWIE star Gemma Collins opens up about 'struggles' with her weight after holiday indulgence

Gemma Collins has impressed fans with her incredible weight loss journey as she shed three and a half stone in total, but the TOWIE star admitted she's been 'struggling'

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Scarlett O'Toole

Ellis WhitehouseChief Reporter

06:30, 8 NOV 2022

Gemma Collins has revealed her weight struggles since going on holiday (Image: Gemma Collins/Instagram)

Former The Only Way Is Essex star Gemma Collins has spoken candidly about "struggling" with her weight after indulging in junk food while on holiday. The 41-year-old has been keeping her fans up-to-date with her impressive weight loss journey after shedding two and a half stone when she took part in Dancing on Ice back in 2019.

The former TOWIE star recently enjoyed some time away with her family and fiancé Rami Hawash, where she allowed herself to indulge in milkshakes and club sandwiches. Since coming back, Gemma said she has "struggled", but is keen to get back on track with her fitness regime. She said: "I’m going to get my walks in, I’ll be honest I’ve struggled since coming back off holiday.

"I’ve struggled dialling zero for a club sandwich. I've struggled having milkshakes. I’ve struggled not having all of that since I’ve been back and I’m just trying to get my walks in again, to keep that momentum flowing you know walking is so good for you," she said on The Gemma Collins Podcast, The Mirror reports.

The TV personality added: "It circulates the blood, it gets the heart pumping, it gets your mind clear and it’s just so good for you to keep moving." The GC has always been open with fans about her issues with weight and binge eating.

As a teenager she was a size 10 and had a healthy approach to food, but a succession of heartbreaks sent her eating spiralling out of control. Every time I felt an emotion I would eat to block it. Food gave me a high," she wrote in her 2013 autobiography, Basically... My Life As An Essex Girl.

"I had always been slim so I never felt guilty," she explained, admitting she would think nothing of eating three chocolate bars in a row followed by two burgers from McDonalds. "I started to fixate about food. It became a focus away from the grim reality of my situation.

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"I would think about it from the minute I woke up to the minute I went to bed. I had low self-esteem. I was suffering and without realising I morphed into a bigger person," she said. "I went from being a thin girl who never had a weight problem and was a constant size 10 to a girl who couldn't stop growing."

Within a year she had ballooned from a svelte 11st to a size 18 and was tipping the scales at more than 17st. Desperate to shift the pounds, Gemma tried everything she could to slim down, including The Cambridge Diet and the Cabbage Soup Diet.

"But I didn't exercise and once the weight was on it stuck. I found it hard to resist temptation and I craved the comfort I found in food," she admitted. Instead, Gemma embraced her curves and carved out a niche as TOWIE's bubbly diva.