Emmerdale's Mandy Dingle's 12 stone weight loss sparked agonising side effect

16 January 2024 , 18:00

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Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley plays Mandy Dingle (Image: ITV)

After making up her mind to turn her life around, Emmerdale star Lisa Riley set about on a weight loss journey that would leave her utterly unrecognisable.

The well-loved actor, who plays Mandy Dingle in the ITV soap, swapped takeaways and junk food for gym sessions and healthy eating, and managed to shed an incredible 12 stone in the space of just 18 months - but this was far from the end of her transformation.

Bury-born Lisa dropped from a size 28 to a svelte size 12 during this period of improved health and wellbeing, but unfortunately soon faced new difficulties. Indeed, the 47-year-old found herself covered in painful folds of excess skin, which weighed more than 1.5 stone.

The actress decided to make a positive lifestyle change (Collect Unknown)

She shed an incredible 12 stone in the space of just 18 months (ITV)

Opening up in her 2017 documentary, Lisa Riley's Baggy Body Club, Lisa heartbreakingly admitted she felt 'revolted' by her own appearance at the point, and viewed herself as a 'saggy mess'. She shared: "When I made the ­decision to lose weight, I never for one second imagined that I would end up looking like that. It never occurred to me that the loose skin would be so bad. I thought why on earth have I lost all this weight? I looked worse than I did when I was obese. And it was the pain as well. The skin was flapping about and dragging."

Left in a state of agonising discomfort, Lisa was unable to stick to the excercise routine she'd worked so hard to incorporate into her life, and knew something had to be done. She revealed: "When you are on this weight loss journey, food becomes the enemy and you have to go to the gym, you have to move. But the ­movement was becoming a severe problem. It really hurt, it rubbed and it would get red, and it was hard to clean between the folds."

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The Emmerdale star was left feeling like a 'saggy mess' (ITV)

Lisa was left unable to excercise due to the painful folds of skin (ITV)

The documentary crew followed Lisa's journey as she underwent surgery to have her skin folds removed, in what was a brave decision on her part to highlight an issue faced by thousands of people each year. Opening up about her apprehensions prior to going under the knife, Lisa said: "The night before the surgery, I was so petrified everybody thought I wasn't going to go through with it. was thinking that in 11 hours I could be dead. I might not wake up.

"Could I have lived with the loose skin for the rest of my life? Yes, but I wouldn't have been happy. I don't feel like I have had cosmetic surgery, I have corrected what I had done to myself. Nobody made me eat 50 Twix bars, or a whole packet of sausages at one sitting. I did that to myself. No one made me not go to the gym. Some weeks I was probably having seven takeaways a week. I did that to myself. I have to take responsibility for that."

Lisa was thrilled with her post-surgery body

Altogether, Lisa underwent four gruelling surgical procedures, including a fleur de lis tummy tuck, surgery to remove loose skin from her thighs, a boob lift and 'bingo wings' wings. Recovery time took a full seven months, with plenty of pain along the way, but Lisa couldn't have been happier with the finished result.

She reflected: "I had never been able to wear sexy underwear, before it was all just functional, mumsy bras and big knickers. Now I can wear little sexy sets. On the train from Manchester to London, the old me would have had a coffee, baguette, red wine, crisps and a cake. Now I plan my meals and order a ­sparkling water, people can't believe it."

Julia Banim