Gavin and Stacey's Ruth Jones admits 'I'm suffering' as she shares health 'wake-up call'
Gavin and Stacey's Ruth Jones admits 'I'm suffering' as she shares health 'wake-up call'
Award-winning Gavin and Stacey actress Ruth Jones has shared a painful update, admitting she'd previously taken her health "for granted", ahead of appearing on BBC's Saturday Kitchen
Ruth Jones is at the height of her powers as an actor, but she's beginning to feel the ravages of time
(Image: Dave Benett,)
Ruth Jones has an impressive list of achievements, with a fistful of prestigious awards including a couple of TV BAFTAs, an MBE, and even an honorary degree from the The Open University in Wales. But, at 58, the thing she's most grateful for is her health.
"You don't know what you've got until it's gone," the Gavin and Stacey star told Woman & Home magazine. "I don't particularly practise gratitude, but often I get a wake-up call where I'll go, 'Thank goodness I can still do this.'
"At the moment I'm suffering with my knees," she added, "I hadn't realised how much I take being able to walk down the street for granted."
Ruth has been showered with awards for her work
(Image: Dave Benett, Alan Chapman/)
Ruth says she made the decision to start pursuing a healthier lifestyle at the beginning of 2010 after a particularly indulgent holiday.
She recalled the significant moment, saying: "I came back from holiday - January 2010 - and we all overdo it on holiday, don't we? Something just clicked, I felt this is now or never, I wanted to make a positive change for me and I haven't looked back."
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Rather than following strict diets, she focused on managing portion sizes and keeping an eye on what she was eating to make sure she didn't take on more calories than she was burning with exercise.
She shed an impressive 4½ stone
(Image: Mike Marsland, Mike Marsland/WireImagevia Getty Images )
Her dedication paid off as she dropped four and a half stone over a period of 22 months. Ruth reflected on her no-nonsense approach: "Although I have done loads of diets in my time I have never done it the old-fashioned way: taking in less calories than I was using."
She took on a manageable goal of between 1,250 and 1,500 calories each day, significantly below the average recommended intake of 2,000 for women. This strategy played a crucial role in her slimming down to a size 12.
Lately, that achievement has been eclipsed by her showbiz awards. Ruth had a heartfelt message for Gavin & Stacey finale co-creator James Corden, after the Nessa Jenkins star picked up a BAFTA award for her role earlier this month.
Ruth hinted that she might be working with James Corden again
(Image: Gareth Cattermole,)
After thanking the Gavin and Stacey team as a whole, she singled out James in particular, saying: "The person I would like to thank most is my dear, dear, talented, lovely, kind, funny friend, James Corden, with whom I have shared this astonishing journey with for the past 17 years and without whom Nessa Shenessa Jenkins would simply not exist."
In a hint that there might be more to come from their partnership, Ruth added: "I love you, James, I love writing with you, long may it continue."
In a playful aside that came straight from her Gavin and Stacey role, Ruth went on, in character, saying: "I've won a BAFTA before, of course I have, in 1976. It was the Barry Arcade Fruity Technician Award and I was grateful for that but this, this is cracking."
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Ruth is appearing on Saturday Kitchen this morning from 10am on BBC One and iPlayer.
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