Heart murmur inspired Lily Allen to lose weight
Singer Lily Allen has revealed she lost weight because doctors discovered she had a heart murmur.
Allen, 22, sparked concern when she shed 19lbs and dropped from a size 12 to an eight in just six weeks.
But the 'Smile' star said the weight came off when she was told the “scary” news that she had the heart condition.
She told Grazia magazine: “I found out I had a heart murmur about three months ago.
“I had switched doctors and just went for a routine check up, which is when they discovered I had this irregular murmur.
“I have been asthmatic all my life, but this was really quite scary. When they asked me how much exercise I did, I had to be honest and say hardly any.”
Allen said: “I make sure I work out three times a week now, and I don’t hold back.
“It’s a hardcore routine and I’m usually in the gym for at least an hour-and-a-half.
“I used to love nothing more than sitting in front of the telly with two packets of Ginger Nuts and two bags of milk bottle sweets – and I’d devour the lot.
“But this heart thing has made me cut back on all that kind of crap.
“I now find that, because I am looking after myself, I don’t feel like eating the bad stuff so much.”
She said: “I really want to stress that I haven’t done this because I want to become some skinny minnie – I will never be like that.
“I just like being more toned, it has made me really happy and I know I will never be super skinny because I would never be happy.
“I don’t understand people who are crazy thin and deprive themselves, they must be miserable.
“I was going pretty crazy back in the summer, drinking way too much and partying loads. But now I don’t want to drink so much, I’ve been cutting back. I should also give up smoking, but haven’t quite managed that yet.”
A heart murmur, a quiet rushing sound that a doctor hears in the heart with a stethoscope, is often harmless but can also indicate a hole in the heart or a heart valve problem.
Allen, who is dating Chemical Brother Ed Simons, 37, recently revealed she wants to make only one more album before retiring at 25 to start a family.
