Javine Hylton looks half the woman she was after shedding three-and-a-half stone since the birth of her daughter Angel Mai Hylton Harvey. The singer, 26, who gave birth in February, has gone from 14 stone to 10.5 stone, thanks to a combination of diet and exercise. She told Closer magazine: "I feel much more confident posing naked this time. I feel proud of myself, even though I’m not in as good a shape as I’d like. My body has changed and my boobs are a bit bigger – although they’ve headed south!”.
What a difference four months makes: Javine shows off her new figure “Having Angel has totally changed me,” says Javine. “Before, if I woke up with a cloud over my head, I’d let it last. Now I have a beautiful baby, how can I not smile? And if you smile, it makes them smile. I feel so much more laid back.” The singer admits that the first few weeks of motherhood were a struggle. “I kept bursting into tears and I even asked my mum if she thought I had post-natal depression. But it was just the shock of having a baby. “It didn’t help that I got mastitis [inflammation] in both boobs, which was agony. I had to take antibiotics, which gave Angel thrush in her mouth, so I stopped breastfeeding. “At that point, I could hardly look in the mirror,” she admits. “I’d always thought of myself as a fit, athletic person, but I’d spread everywhere! My bum was enormous – it came round on all sides and stuck out behind me!
“I’d put on four stone while pregnant – going up to 14 stone – and although I’d lost some of the weight, my pre-pregnancy jeans wouldn’t fit. I’d cover up in Harvey’s [her partner] biggest T-shirts and tracksuit bottoms.” Six weeks after giving birth, Javine met personal trainer Tim Hayes. Tim developed a diet and fitness plan for the new mum, who then weighed 12.5 stone. He put her on a strict, five-times-a-week regime of aerobic and core-strength exercises. “Tim really pushed me, which is what I needed,” says Javine. “He also put me on a healthy diet. I used to have toast and Marmite for breakfast, pasta for lunch and then fish and potatoes in the evening. I was also addicted to crisps. I used my pregnancy to eat as much as I liked – that’s why I went from ten stone to 14 stone!” These days, Javine’s typical menu is porridge with a banana for breakfast, brown rice and veg for lunch, prawn stir-fry for dinner and healthy snacks like sugar snap peas or Brazil nuts. After 14 weeks on the regime, Javine has lost another two stone. She is now 10.5 stone and a healthy size 12. However, she says: “I want to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight of ten stone, and shift my wobbly tum. I’ve just started having a salon treatment called Hypoxi. It’s a targeted fat-burning programme that helps tone up the area. I’m seeing results already. “Harvey didn’t think I could lose all the weight, but he didn’t realise how strong I am. If I decide to do something I can usually pull it off!” says Javine, who’s also been recording a new album since the birth. “It’s been really hard work. There have been times when Harvey and his friends have come in with a big bucket of KFC and I sit there with my brown rice and steamed veggies – but I’ve got used to it.” Harvey and Javine are now planning a holiday in Ibiza, and she says she can’t wait. “I’m not quite ready for a bikini. I might try an all-in-one costume with cutaway bits though,” she grins.