As he approached his 40th birthday, Tom Kerridge, now 51, knew he had to make major changes to his health, and there is one thing in particular that helped him lose a jaw-dropping 12 stone.
Tom, who has become a household name in recent years thanks to his countless TV cooking shows has revealed how deciding to take up swimming massively improved his health.
Speaking to Grace Dent on her Comfort Eating podcast, the celebrity chef elaborated on how his fitness regime helped him to lose weight, he said: “I lost 12 stone, I put some back on in terms of volume because of weight lifting and muscle mass.
“I swam, so I had a longer, thinner swimmer’s body. I’ve stopped swimming now, I go to the gym and lift and have become much wider.”
Grace exclaimed in response: “You’re just so radically different looking!”
But, he insited that he looks forward to taking swimming up again, adding: “At some point I’ll say I’m going to stop that, and start swimming again.”
As Grace went in depth with Tom about his life to date, she explored how his unhealthy habits began and uncovered how he came to the realisation that he simply had to make a change to his old habits.
He said:”You know if you’re drinking that amount it’s not good for you, you know if you’re that size, it’s not good for you, you know if you smoke 30 cigarettes a day, it’s not good for you. We all know that, we’re not stupid. So I was 39 and I just went, ‘what am I doing?'”
Earlier in the podcast, Tom also revealed that it wasn’t only exercise that had helped him shed weight, but also a healthier lifestyle in terms of his calorie consumption, saying that there are two snacks he’s particularly keen on: “It is the ultimate snack! It’s cheese and grapes.
“It’s cheddar and red grapes and they’re always in my fridge because it’s very easy, you don’t have to do any cooking. It gives you a burst of sugar and vitamins.”
Having opened his first pub, The Hand & Flowers in 2005, Tom now boasts a selection of four pubs and restaurants across the country.
He has also become a regular feature on cooking shows on recent years, including BBC Two’s ‘Lose Weight and Get Fit with Tom Kerridge’ in 2020.
