GIRLS ALOUD - COLE'S STRUGGLE WITH WEIGHT-GAIN AFTER GIRLS ALOUD FAME

COLE'S STRUGGLE WITH WEIGHT-GAIN AFTER GIRLS ALOUD FAME

GIRLS ALOUD star CHERYL COLE once stuck to a bland diet of chicken and carrots - because she was desperate to slim down after piling on the pounds during her first year in the spotlight.
The X Factor judge, who sparked fears for her health after showing off her tiny frame on the U.K. talent show's finale in December (08), ballooned in size when the British girlband were thrust into the public eye in 2002.
And Cole admits she followed in the footsteps of actress Jennifer Aniston by eliminating carbohydrates from her diet.
But despite her recent weight loss, the star is adamant she'd never resort to dieting again - insisting her stringent calorie-counting was a "horrible" practice.
She tells the British edition of Vogue magazine, "In the first year of Girls Aloud, I went up to a size 29 inch waist. I remember being in Selfridges (U.K. department store) and taking these 28s into the changing room and not being able to get them on, and then getting on the scales and crying because I was nine and a half stone... when I'm only 5 feet, 3 inches.
"Jennifer Aniston was doing something called the Atkins Diet at the time and I thought I'd give it a go.
"I remember I ate the same thing - chicken in a cream sauce with a couple of carrots - every night for weeks. I felt just horrible, but I was on this mission."