logo
Strictly star shows off jaw-dropping 3.5 stone weight loss after health fears

Strictly star shows off jaw-dropping 3.5 stone weight loss after health fears

Daily Mirror03-06-2025
Comedian Susan Calman has proudly revealed she has lost 3.5 stone since starting her fitness journey after overhauling her lifestyle following a number of health concerns
Strictly Come Dancing star Susan Calman has proudly showed off her weight loss as she detailed the "life changing differences" she has made. The comedian, 50, admitted she "never thought it was possible" to see the results she has.
She previously shared how she wanted to change her lifestyle habits following health concerns. Susan, who competed on the hit BBC dance competition in 2017, started her weight loss journey in December 2023.

By August 2024 she had lost 2.5 stone and now she has revealed she has lost another stone. Susan beamed as she marked her achievement and shared just how much work she had put in.

The TV star said: "Hit another fitness milestone today. 22kg weight loss represented here by two kettlebells because they didn't have one kettlebell heavy enough.
"It's taken 17 months of eating better and moving more. But it's not just about losing weight. I spend lots and lots of time lifting weights and strength training and it's all about consistency. My blood pressure is under control and my health is better.
"My mental health is in a more positive place and I absolutely love feeling stronger every day."
Susan admitted: "In December 2023 I would never have thought this possible. It absolutely is. It takes a lot, but it's worth it. Life changing differences made possible by my better half and @redefinept the best trainer a person could have. They're the two most supportive women in my life and the best people I know."
She concluded: "The stronger I am, the better placed I am to take on the world. If I can do it, anyone can. If you want to. I think you're smashing the way you are x."

Susan, who is married to wife Lee Cormack, previously shared her motivations to go on a fitness journey as she feared for her health. She told her followers last year: "My health was in a precarious position and needed to do something about it to stay healthy.
"I've lost over 35 pounds but more importantly I'm stronger and fitter than I've ever been." The TV star insisted it hasn't always been easy but has seen a positive impact on her mental health.
"It's a real struggle sometimes, and requires far more mental strength than anything else," she admitted. "As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression my whole life I can honestly say that it's helping me. A lot."
The presenter has also been keen to express why she is sharing her journey on social media. "I'm not posting this to boast. Someone asked me recently if I was unwell because I'd lost so much weight so I wanted to clear that up."
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Michelle Ryan reveals reason behind EastEnders return after making Jessie Wallace cry
Michelle Ryan reveals reason behind EastEnders return after making Jessie Wallace cry

Daily Mirror

time8 minutes ago

  • Daily Mirror

Michelle Ryan reveals reason behind EastEnders return after making Jessie Wallace cry

Michelle Ryan and Jessie Wallace talk about their Albert Square characters being reunited after 20 years It was exciting for soap viewers, but Jessie Wallace says she burst into tears when she was reunited with Michelle Ryan. The pair are set to star together again later this month on EastEnders. It follows a fleeting appearance from Michelle, 41, as Zoe earlier this Summer for several episodes to tease her full return to the BBC soap. ‌ 'I burst out crying,' Jessie recalled of their first meeting. "We met for a secret dinner date with [executive producer] Ben Wadey and the Slaters. When I saw Michelle, I cried – we were all very emotional. It was nostalgic and lovely.' Wallace also insisted her co-star couldn't be recast for the new storyline. It comes after reports of all the celebrities rumoured to be joining BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2025. ‌ In an interview with Radio Times, she recalled: 'I said to Ben, 'It has to be Michelle. It won't feel right if Zoe is recast.' I wouldn't be able to give my best performance. The audience would feel completely conned. ‌ 'I love Michelle and have always been protective over her, perhaps that's natural having played her mum. I'm a mother myself now, which I wasn't when we worked together before, and I'm very protective over my daughter. 'I've changed and so has Kat. I've grown up a lot, and Kat is more responsible now. She's got three boys and is married. Kat would die for her children, she wasn't allowed to be a parent when she had Zoe but has become a great mum. It's one of the qualities I love most about her.' Actress Michelle returned to play Zoe Slater after being away from the soap for 20 years in June. Around 2.2 million people watched her shock appearance on the BBC One soap, which unusually had not been made available on iPlayer earlier in the day. She will now return for more episodes in August. ‌ The character is best remembered for the 2001 cliffhanger in which she screamed at her sister Kat Slater "you ain't my mother!" who fired back with the iconic twist: "Yes I am." Michelle described returning to the show, where she last starred in June 2005, as feeling "like coming home'. ‌ Paying tribute to her co-star she said: 'Jessie is one of the best actresses I've ever worked with.'The rapport we have and our friendship off screen as well, it all just feeds into that mother-daughter bond. On set, it's like having someone in your corner all the time and always knowing that I'll be fine. I can just talk to Jessie. We have a shorthand, and we have a similar kind of view on the characters and their journey.' Michelle was revealed to viewers at the end of the June episode, making a dramatic reunion with step-father Alfie Moon and cousin Stacey Slater just before the credits. It was the first episode produced by the show's new executive producer Ben Wadey who said the character was on his wish-list of returnees before stepping into the role. He said: "I was absolutely delighted when Michelle agreed to return, and I'm thrilled to welcome her back to Walford." After leaving the soap in 2005, Michelle made appearances in BBC One shows Merlin, Doctor Who and Jekyll. ‌ She was also cast as the lead in a remake of the 1970s programme The Bionic Woman, which was cancelled by US broadcaster NBC after eight episodes. Speaking candidly in the Radio Times interview she admitted another reason for wanting to come back was regular work. She said she had loved the freedom of being able to pick jobs and mixing up theatre and film. "But there comes a time when you think, actually, it would be great to have a routine,' she said. The actress revealed that the invitation to return to Elstree Studios arrived at a time she had been reflecting on her time on the BBC soap with old castmates. She said: "It all happened at the right time. I'd already been thinking about a return because I'd met up with Kacey Ainsworth and Kim Medcalf and we were reminiscing our fond memories of the show. ‌ "It just so happened that at the same time, EastEnders had announced a new Exec who was keen to explore the potential of a return as he was such a massive fan of Zoe and the Slaters. "I can't say too much as there is a lot of drama to come, but Zoe is a mess. She's not the girl that left Walford twenty years ago, and she's been really struggling on her own."

Psychedelics have gone mainstream – don't buy into it
Psychedelics have gone mainstream – don't buy into it

Telegraph

time10 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Psychedelics have gone mainstream – don't buy into it

It's hardly unusual for a radio station to invite the listener to turn on and tune in, but Radio 4 has been encouraging us to drop out too. All throughout this week and next, Tim Hayward is taking The Trip (Radio 4, Mon-Fri; all episodes on BBC Sounds), a deep dive into the world of psychedelics, while on Tuesday night Ed Prideaux was Trip Shocked (Radio 4, Tues), which covered much of the same territory. A quick Google of the word ' psychedelics ' tells you why there is such a glut of interest. The first three headlines: 'Can psychedelic therapy go mainstream?', 'Psychedelic medicine could revolutionise how we treat mental illness' and 'Psychedelics may offer hope for treatment of eating disorders.' The next few hundred headlines are similar. The psychedelics are coming for your mental health. Psychedelics, as Prideaux said, have had a 'reputational glow-up' in recent years, transforming in the public mind from bogeyman life-destroyers favoured by opt-out beatniks to miracle drugs for all and any mental health conditions. Prideaux – who took LSD on four occasions 10 years ago when he was 17 and, among the enjoyable moments, suffered from violent stomach pains and HPPD (hallucinogen persisting perception disorder) – is both surprised at the surge in popularity of psychedelics and concerned about their spread as a medical cure-all. It hardly needs stating that Prideaux found that not nearly enough research or clinical trials have been done around the medical use of the drugs – the question is, why then are they being pushed so aggressively towards the mental health sector? The answer was depressingly obvious. In the first quarter of 2025, more than $350m was invested in psychedelic biotech companies. Like the opiate industry before it, the psychedelic lobby in the US has been evangelical about promoting its products, roping in veterans suffering from PTSD (as they did with opioids and veterans living with pain). Side-effects, malpractice and even deaths have been unreported or brushed under the carpet as a booming new market seeks to take advantage of a sea change in public and political opinion (one of those hundreds of headlines reads: 'How MAGA learnt to love psychedelics'). Instead there exists a mushy atmosphere of woowoo, with phrases such as 'net-zero trauma' and 'inner healer' bandied around among the easy-win headlines about magic mushrooms curing depression. They'll change your life, man. Well, yes, quite possibly, but could we have a few more double-blind clinical trials first? Prideaux did not deny that psychedelics seem to work incredibly well, and incredibly quickly, for some people suffering from a broad spectrum of mental health conditions. Hayward's series, meanwhile, uncovered another depressing truth – in the 'pre-prohibition era of psychedelics', in the early to mid-20th century, research was booming, but the whole industry was driven underground when the societal winds changed in the 1960s. Only now are we starting to scratch at the surface of what psychedelics might be capable of. Hayward wanted, in particular, to find out what was going on in a brain altered by psychedelic drugs, which led to some extremely entertaining segments about drug users chatting to superintelligent gnomes and the idea that the key to understanding human consciousness lies in the venom gland of the Colorado River toad. Yet while both programmes hinted that humanity is on the cusp of unlocking all sorts of exciting things via the substances that led to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the overall effect was a little dispiriting. Political fear brought about the suppression of research into psychedelics more than half a century ago, and now the allure of private financial gain is getting that research moving again. I lost count of the amount of times a neuroscientist ended a sentence with 'but we just don't know enough yet' or 'but the evidence isn't here yet'. 'Journalists look for simple narratives,' said one researcher to Prideaux. I tried looking for one, but these trips messed with my mind. More research is needed.

Jessie Wallace reveals crunch meeting with EastEnders bosses before Michelle Ryan returned as ‘daughter' Zoe Slater
Jessie Wallace reveals crunch meeting with EastEnders bosses before Michelle Ryan returned as ‘daughter' Zoe Slater

The Sun

time10 minutes ago

  • The Sun

Jessie Wallace reveals crunch meeting with EastEnders bosses before Michelle Ryan returned as ‘daughter' Zoe Slater

ZO GOOD TO BE BACK Jessie reveals how she didn't want the audience to 'feel completely conned' EASTENDERS stars Jessie Wallace and Michelle Ryan are reuniting — two decades after they were last on the soap. Jessie, who plays Kat Slater, and Michelle, who is her on-screen daughter Zoe, are returning to the soap together. 2 In 2001, 19million viewers watched as it was revealed Zoe was Kat's daughter, having always known her as her sister. Jessie, 53, said she told the soap's boss Ben Wadey she would return to the BBC One drama if Michelle, 41, did. She said: 'I said to Ben, 'It has to be Michelle. "It won't feel right if Zoe is recast.' "I wouldn't be able to give my best performance. "The audience would feel completely conned.' Jessica described their reunion before filming, telling Radio Times, above: 'I burst out crying. "We met for a secret dinner date with Ben Wadey and the Slaters. "When I saw Michelle, I cried. "It was nostalgic.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store