Pop Idol’s Michelle McManus reveals off her NINE stone weight reduction

Michelle McManus has showed off her incredible body transformation after losing nine stone. 

The Scottish singer, 44, who has previously spoke about her battle with weight and journey to sobriety, displayed her slender frame in a lime green dress for a stunning Instagram snap. 

Yet Michelle – who won season two of Pop Idol in 2003 – revealed the biggest change had been to her mindset, explaining that she had learnt about self love and self worth. 

Alongside a before and after snap, she explained: ‘Sometimes it’s okay to stop and take stock of what you’ve achieved.

‘For the past year or so I’ve been making changes in my life to help me reach the place in which I now find myself. Happily it is a place of good health and contentment.’

Michelle continued: ‘I love both versions of myself in the above two photos. 

‘The image on the left was taken in late 2022, eight months after I’d given birth to my second beautiful baby and I’d just started a new job presenting The Afternoon Show on @bbcradioscot.

‘Even though life was going great for me, at the time I was very tired both physically and mentally. 

‘If I’m honest, I was also struggling with my fitness – caring for two babies under three was my priority and working on myself was not something I had dedicated time to considering, let alone doing.

‘The photograph on the right was taken a few weeks ago, behind the scenes at a photoshoot I did in Glasgow. In total I’ve dropped 9st through calorie deficit and introducing exercise into my life.’

Despite being proud of her weight loss, Michelle insisted that she didn’t care about her physical transformation, but her change in attitude. 

She explained: ‘Looking at these images side by side, I can honestly say the numbers attached to both are almost irrelevant. 

‘It’s not about the label on the clothing or what it says on the scales, but instead I’ve learned it’s truly all about how you feel about yourself. 

‘Life gets in the way, situations change and priorities shift.

‘Someone introduced me to a great quote recently that really resonated with me: “The only lifelong relationship we’ll ever have is the one with ourselves”.

‘It is something I’ve learned too, loving yourself and feeling self-worth is so important. It’s taken me such a long time to understand that, but thankfully now, at 44-years-old, I finally get it, and perhaps that is the biggest and best transformation of all. ❤️’

Michelle added the hashtags: ‘#bodypositivity #transformation #selflove #bodyneutrality #allbodiesarebeautiful #bodyconfidence #bekindtoyourself.’ 

Michelle, who has been sober for five years, shares sons Harry, four, and Nicholas Peter, two, with her husband Jeff Nimmo.

In 2016, Michelle admitted that during her time on Pop Idol she struggled with people scrutinising her looks.

Speaking on Lorraine at the time, she said: ‘It was difficult, everyone wants to look the best they can look. I was only 24, I’d never been to London, it was always made such a big deal, I’ve been up and down, It’s always going to be a part of me.

‘I think it will always be a part of me, even if I was to lose all the weight and become a real skinny minny, it would still somehow be there.’

Michelle also said that she wanted to ‘wire her jaw up’ ahead of her wedding in order to lose weight. 

Last year, Michelle opened up on her decision to cut out alcohol, admitting that when drinking she ‘didn’t have a stop button’.

She appeared on Loose Women in December 2023, 20 years after winning the second series of Pop Idol.

Discussing her win, she said: ‘I can’t believe it’s been so long! I was 23 at the time and I don’t think I’d be able to go through that now with social media. I don’t think I would have been mentally strong enough.’

Michelle then got emotional as she recalled her experience in the competition, as it was tainted by judgements about her looks.

She broke into tears as she described feeling ‘such shame’ over the trolling she received and stories written about her while on the show. 

Michelle said: ‘It was really difficult. I don’t know why I’m getting emotional now, it was twenty years ago.”

‘One of the first articles that popped out said at the top “Can Michelle sing? Yes. Is she going to be a pop star? But come on lads, you wouldn’t would you?” And that’s where it went.’

She went on: ‘I felt such shame from some of the comments like I had let everyone down. I couldn’t understand why people had voted for me because of the comments.

‘I would say no now if my daughter asked to go on a show like that because of social media now.’

Michelle then discussed her decision to stop drinking, after she chose to go sober four years ago.

She confessed she had an unhealthy relationship with booze due to the negative attention she received and that since cutting it out she feels ‘more empowered.

She said: ‘I love alcohol. For a long time alcohol was my best friend. 

‘Then when I got in my late thirties, early forties, alcohol kind of fell out with me and I fell out with alcohol and I just thought it’s time to remove it from my life.

‘I didn’t have a stop button, I’d always have a couple of glasses of red and then be like, “Where’s the Jack Daniels?” ‘And I just thought I wish I could be a social drinker but I never was, so I just cut it out of my life. 

‘And now it’s been one of the best things I’ve ever done. That has been a part of me feeling more empowered.’