Claire Richards shows off the results of losing five stone… again

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:51 PM on 29th March 2011

One year ago, Claire Richards posed in a purple bikini at size 18 and declared that she would lose all the weight she had regained following the birth of her daughter Daisy three months before – but she would do it safely and in her own time.

Now, the former Steps singer has proudly unveiled the results of her hard work over the past 12 months in a new photoshoot.

Claire, 33, has seen her weight go up and down over the years – ballooning from ten stone, to 15, and back to ten again.

In this week’s Closer magazine, Claire shows off her weight loss in a blue swimsuit and nude heels.

‘I feel like a yummy mummy! I can’t wait to buy a new wardrobe and slip into a few sexy little party dresses,’ she tells the magazine.

During
last year’s shoot, she insisted that she would take her time losing the
baby weight.

Claire had previously worked it off after the birth of her
son Charlie, three, by releasing a workout DVD.

After she regained those pounds all over again, the mother-of -two said pictures of her at her heaviest spurred her to get back on the wagon.

‘Those photos were mortifying,’ Claire says of pictures of her tucking into a pastry last year. ‘My stomach looked enormous!

‘It was a wake-up call. I’d been
trying to eat well, and had lost around a stone, but I was still eating
rubbish.

‘It’s exhausting looking after two young children and I’d often reach for the biscuit tin, just for an energy boost.’

But she managed to kick her bad habits with ‘sheer bloody-mindedness and lots of hard work,’ she says. ‘It’s been a tough slog, but I’m delighted with my sexy curves.’

But Claire still relies on a little trickery to keep her red carpet-ready: ‘My tummy has stretch marks and I still
wear Spanx – plus my boobs will never be the same again! I’d still like
to slim down a bit, but that will come with time’

Yo yo: Claire says she always felt like ‘the fat one’ back in her Steps heyday

Best seller: She vowed not to regain weight after releasing her workout DVD in 2009 but ended up piling on the pounds again

She has worked with a dietician and personal trainer to overhaul her lifestyle.

‘I stopped finishing off the kids’
leftovers and shrank my portions,’ Claire reveals.

‘I’d cook low-fat
versions of things like spag Bol and cut out all treats apart from the odd two-finger KitKat. I was eating around 1,500 cals a day.’

In 2009 Richards released a best-selling workout DVD, 5 Step Fat Attack, after saying she thought she ‘looked like a person wearing a fat suit’ after the birth of Charlie.

She also insisted at the time that she would not succumb to slowly regaining weight like others before her who had released fitness tapes, such as Natalie Cassidy – but found herself piling on the pounds when she fell pregnant for the second time.

‘I joined Steps when I was 19 and was
always on a diet – the pressure to stay slim was huge. I was always seen
as “the fat one”.’

‘Losing weight has made me more confident. I was feeling like a slummy mummy – now I’m slipping into my yummy mummy clothes!’

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