Coronation Street Glenda star’s jaw-dropping nine-stone weight loss transformation

Glenda Shuttleworth, the bubbly bartender from Coronation Street, has seen many ups and downs on her journey to Weatherfield.

And it’s safe to say that since since actress Jodie Prenger joined the adored ITV serial opera back in August of last year, fans have fallen in love with the feisty character.

But this isn’t the 43-year-old beauty’s first experience with fame; in 2006, she shot to notoriety when she made an appearance on a popular weight loss program.

Over the subsequent 16 years, the actress has become a significant leading lady for both theater and television.

Glenda has a history of signing her name to notable productions, including Shirley Valentine, Annie, One Man, Two Guvnors, and Fat Friends: The Musical.

The management of her health, however, has undoubtedly been one of her largest life challenges.

The Daily Star has delved deeply into the feisty bartender’s lifelong battle with weight reduction as she tests her entrepreneurial skills on the Cobbles.

The Biggest Loser

The brunette beauty originally gained notoriety when she took home a £25,000 cash prize in the second season of the popular Sky Living weight loss competition The Biggest Loser.

The celebrity lost nine stone in six months, moving from 18 st 2 lb to 9 st 9 lb and shrinking from a size 26 to a size 12.

Following her spectacular victory on the program, where she reduced half her body weight, Jodie even went on to develop a weight loss DVD.

Before appearing on the program, the celebrity acknowledged that she was consuming excessive amounts of the wrong foods at the wrong times.

“Because I worked at night, I’d sit around in the day and make a sandwich for something to do,” she claimed in an interview with Media.

“I couldn’t cook, so I always ate in restaurants, and then I’d get a KFC or a cheese sandwich after shows. Even though I knew it was bad, it sated my hunger.

Return to reality

The 5ft 3in star usually exercised for three hours per day after the show ended to keep her lean shape.

In an interview with The Sun, she said: “That show taught me a lot about exercise, and I really enjoyed the process because we did it together.

However, because they put you in a house and all you did was that, it wasn’t realistic and couldn’t last when real life returned.

The actress suffered as she adapted to life outside of the regimented home as the years went by.

“I found it difficult to keep the weight off, and it’s never helped that I have a soft spot for a cheeseboard and a bottle of Prosecco,” she admitted to the Daily Star. The most important thing right now is that I’m having fun and not beating myself up about my weight.

Sizes 10 to 12 were simply unsustainable. In addition, I had lost too much weight, so I was glad to gain a few pounds and get some curves back.

Yo-yo diets

The celebrity fell head over heels in love with company director Simon Booth in 2012, following an acrimonious breakup with boxing superstar Chris Eubank.

Unfortunately, Jodie ate more because her 6ft 4in tall companion had a big appetite.

Two years later, she had a number of events in her life, including Simon popping the question, her dad Marty being diagnosed with kidney cancer, which he passed away just a few months later, and her landing a role in the West End production of One Man, Two Guvnors.

The celebrity said that her health and diet were the last things on her mind during that challenging moment in her life.

It was the best of times and the worst of times all rolled into one, and my instinctive response was to keep busy and go out every night, which prevented me from taking the time to deal with my mental turmoil.

“At stupid o’clock in the morning, I was drinking too much and eating whatever dreck we could find, whether it was steak and chips in a chic café or a burger from a takeout.”

She put on almost four stone and didn’t realize she needed to lose the weight again until she started the new show and saw billboards of herself.

The actress admitted: “Even with all that, the fat still managed to escape. I was wearing a corset over a pair of Spanx over another corset.

“I didn’t notice it in the mirror, but I appeared enormous on a billboard.”

Finally moving on

After years of struggling with her weight, the soap star finally stopped going on and off diets as she prepared to play Glenda on The Cobbles.

Jodie discussed how her life has altered after taking a sabbatical from the West End to work on the ITV soap opera in an interview with The Sun.

She said to the magazine: “My weight has fluctuated like a bride’s nightgown. I can handle it sometimes and not other times.

“However, I constantly think to myself, ‘God, I wish I was as big as I was the first time I thought I was big, you know?'”

And that only proves that you should appreciate life for what it is and take advantage of it while you can. I therefore enjoy working out as well as going out and having a good time with my pals.

I recently purchased a Peloton cycle, however right now it is hanging up my nightgown. Don’t you think life is too short?