Gavin & Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones has opened up about her impressive four stone weight loss journey, revealing the single dietary change that made all the difference.
At 58, Ruth decided it was time to slim down the "old-fashioned way" after experimenting with "loads of diets". She set herself a goal of consuming between 1,200 and 1,500 calories daily, well below the standard 2,000-calorie guideline for women.
This calorie reduction strategy paid off handsomely, as Ruth trimmed down to a svelte size 12. In the midst of her dramatic weight loss, she disclosed that she eliminated one particular indulgence from her diet: chocolate.
During an appearance on the Table Manners podcast hosted by Jessie and Lennie Ware, Gavin & Stacey actress Ruth shared insights into how Paul McKenna, the hypnotherapist, played a role in her transformation. She recounted: "One of the techniques he showed in this workshop, he asked us what our aims were and I said that if I could stop eating chocolate, I would be fine.
"So he said 'ok I'm gonna show you all a technique - if you want to stop eating it, this is what's gonna stop it for good'. I was a bit cynical but did this whole process and one of the elements of this process was aversion therapy," reports Surrey Live.
"He said think of something that you would hate eating and what you do is think of eating that then you think about eating the chocolate and you keep alternating. My thing was mushy peas. I used that as my aversion and it worked.
"I did not eat chocolate for five years, I couldn't stand the smell. And when James [Corden] and I were writing, some of the hotels that we'd stay in, sometimes they'd put a little bit of complimentary chocolate on the pillow and I always used to test myself to see if I was still put off the chocolate, and I was."
Ruth, who also starred in hit TV shows such as Little Britain and Fat Friends, says she eventually decided to unsubscribe from the Paul McKenna workshop email list. But the next day she found herself reaching for a sweet treat once more.
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No credit)She added: "I swear to god, the next day, we were writing and there were chocolates on the bed in this hotel room and I picked them up."
Gavin and Stacey co-creator James recalled a moment he returned to the hotel room where the pair were penning a final episode of the sitcom, only to find Ruth with the chocolates.
He said: "I went into the bathroom, came back and Ruth was like 'oh my god' and you were holding them near your mouth and it was the day after that, we'd had a bit of an argument and we decided to go for a walk and we bought two giant Cadbury's Easter eggs and we lay on the bed, open them and just lay with the chocolate on our faces and it was shortly after that that we wrote Dawn and Pete's vows, the bit when when she changes the words to Ben."
The much-anticipated finale of Gavin and Stacey, scheduled to air on Christmas Day, is predicted to be one of the most viewed holiday TV programmes ever. The 2019 Christmas special drew in approximately 18.49 million viewers, marking the highest audience numbers for a non-sporting event in more than ten years and the most popular comedy in over 17 years.
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