When I joined The Saturdays in the summer of 2007, I started putting pressure on myself. Being in a girl band can do that for you. It made me restrict my diet and gave me a false sense of control. It relied heavily on the fact that I was always standing.
That said, we haven’t found a way to completely drown out other people’s opinions. I wish I could say I have. But it’s been especially hard since I became a mom of two boys. I was still at Saturdays when I had my first child. I was always viewed a certain way in the public eye, but my body changed very quickly and publicly after that. I had stretch marks. I think once you have kids there will be pressure to put them back together, but that doesn’t happen to everyone.
Some return to their former appearance, while others have to work hard for it. Our bodies change, and it’s all perfectly normal and fine. Before the pandemic, I attended many exercise classes. But because of my work schedule and the kids, it was always pretty sporadic, so I found it hard to stick to a routine. and cardio. Or do Pilates and boxing. I didn’t like working out, so I had to put those things in order for accountability. I always prefer working out in the morning between 9am and 9:30am. It’s my dream time. But I’m not the kind of person who wakes up at 5 a.m. for a workout when it comes to early morning photo shoots on the phone. We aim for 5 days, but it could be shorter.
I went from being someone who was made to exercise to having that luxury no longer during lockdown. At first it felt like everything was great and everyone was on vacation. But I was bored with sitting and needed to sort myself out, so I posted on Instagram and asked her for her workout recommendations. I thought it would be a good way to start exercising again. Most people mentioned her RWL (Results Wellness Lifestyle). I started step training with an old fashioned fitness app. My mother used to do it with Mr. Motivator. I like dancing, especially when I don’t have to focus on my daily routine.
When we got back from Gwrych Castle after I’m A Celebrity, we started recording our RWL program. Launched in January, it’s called “Frankie’s Results: Health and Well-Being,” and it’s a mix of at-home workouts including boxing, LIIT (low-intensity interval training), dance and weights, healthy recipes, mindset chats, and more. I was exhausted and hadn’t exercised in a month, so I was pretty nervous. I entered the castle thinking that everything would be mentally tough, but there were many times when it was physically taxing. The most difficult challenge was the cyclone. We were there for a few weeks and we didn’t eat much, sat a lot and it was freezing cold. I didn’t know how resilient my body was, but I learned to trust it more.
