She says she struggled to recognise herself in the mirror after gaining 2st during lockdown and has been documenting her weight-loss journey since August.
Now, nearly three months on, Love Island star Shaughna Phillips reveals she feels “more confident and energised” after losing weight and dropping two dress sizes.
Shaughna, 25, tells Closer, “I’ve worked hard to feel confident about my body again. I’ve lost 10 inches all over and I’ve got more energy than I’ve ever had as result of eating well. A few weeks ago, I ordered a pair of size 10 jeans, and they’re loose, which felt great!”
Like many, Shaughna fell into unhealthy eating habits during lockdown last year, and it’s taken until the last few months for her to establish a healthy routine again.
Check out: Love Island 2020 stars - where are they now?
Love Island 2020 contestants - where are they now? - slider
1 of 38Leanne Amaning
After failing to find love in the villa (she famously got the 'ick' whilst with Mike Boateng), Leanne's time on the island was cut relatively short in a cruel dumping.
2 of 38Leanne Amaning
Fast forward a year and Leanne has admitted that she was at her 'happiest' before going into the villa. In a Instagram Q&A in 2020, Leanne told fans that appearing on Love Island has taken a toll on her mental health, '[it affected it] more than I thought, more than I could imagine.'
3 of 38Siânnise Fudge
After a few failed romances, Bristol babe Siânnise Fudge found her Aladdin in the villa in the shape of boyfriend Luke Trotman.
4 of 38Siânnise Fudge
A big believer in fairytale endings, Siânnise and Luke have since moved into together, survived a global pandemic, are parents to puppy Nala and even founded their own fashion business @conqrstore.
5 of 38Eve and Jess Gale
A Love Island first, identical twins Eve and Jess caused fireworks when they walked into the villa. Although Eve's journey was cut short, Jess managed to make her way to the final and finished in fourth place with now ex-boyfriend Ched Evans.
6 of 38Eve and Jess Gale
Since the show ended, the pair still do everything together, from travelling the world to posing together in sexy shoots. They're still very much joined at the hip.
7 of 38Shaughna Phillips
Leaving with her head high after the whole Callum/Molly Casa Amor drams, Shaughna is still one of the stand out stars of the winter series in South Africa, and has since gone on to star on Celebs Go Virtual Dating.
8 of 38Shaughna Phillips
Always keeping it real, Shaughna bravely opened up about suffering from an eating disorder and the results of liposuction surgery on her legs.She's full of LOLs of Twitter and is still the Shaughna we all fell in love with. Has she found love yet? Not yet, but only time will tell...
9 of 38Sophie Piper
Will we ever forget Sophie's infectious laugh and infamous put downs in awkward situation? The beauty, who is the sister of pop star and TV presenter Rochelle Humes, became the seventh Islander to be dumped from the villa halfway through the series.
10 of 38Sophie Piper
Since the show, Sophie has racked up 800k Instagram followers. She has continued to work as a model and influencer for the likes of Pretty Little Thing, Boux Avenue and JD Sports.
11 of 38Paige Turley
The winner takes it all! Scottish babe and aspiring singer Paige walked away the winner of Love Island 2020. She well and truly found her prince!
12 of 38Paige Turley
Despite enduring a hard period over lockdown they're still madly in love a year later. Aww! And despite EVERYONE wanting another Love Island wedding, the pair recently admitted that they want to do things in their 'own time'.
13 of 38Mike Boateng
Hunky police officer Mike Boateng left the Love Island villa with a smile as he confessed his love for Priscilla Anyabu, but it took a while for him to find his princess.
14 of 38Love Island 2020 where are they now
The pair instantly made things official when they left the villa. They're still very much together and now live together in London.
15 of 38Connor Durman
Jet-setter Connor went into Love Island to settle down, but after a six-month-long romance with Sophie Piper he is now single again.
16 of 38Connor Durman
However, he's still got a smile on his face (how could he not) as his coffee business is booming - even through lockdown - and his Instagram following is bigger than ever. That's what we like to see!
17 of 38Callum Jones
Scaffolder Callum become a little bit of a Love Island villian when he dramatically dumped Shaughna and chose to return from Casa Amor with Molly Smith.
18 of 38Callum Jones and Molly Smith
However, it looks like his risky move was worth it as the Manchester duo survived the lockdown and have moved in together - he even spoke to exclusively to us about marriage and babies. Adorable. Talk about proving everyone wrong!
19 of 38Nas Majeed
After a few pies and a brief snog with Demi Jones, Nas got his Love Island wish granted when he walked in Casa Amor and met Eva Zapico.
20 of 38Nas Majeed
Even though they left very soon after they returned to the main villa, Nas and Eva are still stronger than ever and are another couple to survive any sort of Love Island curse. They even sassily hit back at split rumours in the funniest way last year.
21 of 38Ollie Williams
Oh Ollie! His time on Love Island was very brief and surrounded in controversy. From those pictures of him hunting to rumours that he was only on the show for exposure as he left after three days after realising he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend Laura.
22 of 38Ollie Williams
Since reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Laura soon after the show, Ollie has enjoyed the quiet life. It's not known if Ollie is still loved up with Laura, they last posted a Insta snap together in September 2020. Hmmmm.
23 of 38Finley Tapp
Oh Finley! As well as bagging true love in the form of girlfriend Paige Turley and WINNING the show, the whole nation fell a little bit in love with this cheeky chap.
24 of 38Finley Tapp
After spending a whole year together, Finn recently revealed to heat that his relationship with Paige went from strength to strength during lockdown because 'he was already used to the intensity of spending every minute with Paige. When you put it like that!
25 of 38Connagh Howard
Connagh, 27, dumped from the Love Island villa. The hunk, 27, bid a sad farewell to South Africa on Friday's show after just a few weeks despite sharing a kiss with Rebecca Gormley days earlier, who chose Luke Trotman over him.
26 of 38Connagh Howard
The model's career as a model and person trainer has rocketed since appearing on the show as he has used the exposure to his advantage. He's also gained a HUGE following on Tik Tok AND found love with girlfriend Beth Dunlavey.
27 of 38Rebecca Gormley
The Geordie babe was a little bit picky in the Love Island villa, but finally found her man, fellow Islander Chris Biggs, after leaving the show.
28 of 38Rebecca
The pair are still loved up and Rebecca has gushed that he's just 'an amazing man'. However, the past year hasn't been completely plain sailing, as she recently underwent surgery after damaging her right arm in a horror fall back in January.
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29 of 38Luke Mabbott
Justin Bieber lookalike Luke managed to reach the final of the show with Demi Jones, and although we all thought they were the real deal, the pair parted ways at the start of lockdownafter living apart for months.
30 of 38Luke Mabbott
Despite being locked down, Luke soon moved on with another Islander, Lucie Donlan, and have been together for just over a year. Luke recently revealed a huge tattoo tribute to his girlfriend after almost a year of dating and the pair have just adopted an adorable rescue dog called Bunny.
31 of 38Luke Trotman
Student Luke walked out of Love Island hand in hand with girlfriend Siânnise and start their fairytale together.
32 of 38Luke Trotman
Since leaving the show, Luke decided to head back to university to finish his Banking, Finance, and Management degree. We love a guy who thinks beyond the PAs and hashtag ads.
33 of 38Demi Jones
Even though she was super unlucky in love in the villa, Demi's infectious personality has made her a stand out star in her own right.
34 of 38Demi Jones
Since the show, she's landed deals with Missguided and is a brand ambassador @tatti_lashes. However, in May 2021, Demi revealed to the world that she has thyroid cancer and announced that she will have to undergo surgery. Ever the optimist though, Demi has been updating fans of her surgery progress, admitting that she's a 'tough cookie'. She sure is!
35 of 38Wallace Wilson
Scottish personal trainer Wallace entered Love Island towards the end, but he still made an impression, although not quite enough to leave with a lady on his arm.
36 of 38Wallace Wilson
Outside the villa, Wallace in focusing on his personal training back home, is he still on the lookout for love? Who knows, he likes to play it coy.
37 of 38Ched Uzor
Beefcake Ched left the villa arm in arm with Jess Gale, and things were going swimmingly until the coronavirus pandemic hit and they wenttheir separate ways in an 'impossible situation'.
38 of 38Ched Uzor
Since the split, Ched and Jess haven't reconciled and it looks like he's currently still single.
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She explains, “Lockdown was completely to blame – I had no structure and food was all I had to look forward to, whether it was baking banana bread or cookies.
“My portion sizes were far too big and I didn’t eat regularly. I’d make enough spag Bol to feed a village and, because I didn’t want to be wasteful, I’d finish the lot. I’d have biscuits for breakfast and eat mostly beige foods, like pasta and bread.”
Shaughna says things came to a head when she struggled to fit into her clothes. “I’d look in the mirror and didn’t recognise the person staring back. I felt so uncomfortable and gained weight all over, especially on my arms,” she says. “And when I saw of photo of me with my mum, it was a turning point.”
However, after a health-kick, she feels more like herself again. Shaughna has been following Muscle Food’s Goal Getters Super Slimmer plan – a personalised meal delivery service based on calorie-controlled healthy eating – and has gone from a size 14 to a 10-12. She adds, “I didn’t have the willpower to fix my diet so this has put me on the right path, and it’s shown me what portion sizes are right. It didn’t feel like a plan as I had tasty pre-prepared meals.
“These days, I wake at 6am and have porridge for slow-release carbs. After a training session at the gym, I’ll have a slice of granary toast, followed by a Muscle Food beef ragu pot for lunch, then their lean steak with chips for dinner. I’m shocked at how much I can eat on the plan.”
However, her body-confidence journey hasn’t been plain sailing and she’s suffered with insecurities for most of her life. After leaving the villa in 2020, she was diagnosed with lipoedema [when an abnormal amount of fat cells build up in legs, arms and thighs], and had liposuction in October to remove “two litres of fat” from her calves.
She also admits she once went down to a size 6 to try to lose weight from her legs, explaining, “I’ve been conscious of my legs since secondary school. They were my number one hang-up. I’d stare at the other girls’ legs and think, ‘Wow, my calves look so different.’ At one stage, I was starving myself and weighed under 9st. It was so bad for my body. I sent a picture of the scales to my boyfriend at the time and he replied, ‘Great, you can work on your legs now.’ My world fell down around me. I thought, ‘I don’t know what else I can do to lose more weight.’”
But she felt a “sigh of relief” once doctors diagnosed her last year. She says, “When I realised it was a condition, I felt like the burden had been lifted. I realised it’s the way my body holds fat and it’s not because of my eating habits. I’m much more confident now. Many people think it’s a disease that affects only overweight people, but that’s not the case.”
WATCH: Shaughna Phillips confesses to ‘grassing’ on Paige to Producers | Love Island Secrets
Shaughna bravely admits she struggled in the villa too, but now “regrets” being tough on herself. She lost 4st, taking her to 10st, before heading to South Africa.
She says, “After watching the show back, I looked amazing, but I didn’t feel confident. I felt I was the token ‘fat girl’ or a tick-box exercise for the show to be more body inclusive. To make things worse, one of the symptoms of lipoedema is water retention, and my legs swelled up in the South African heat. During the trials, none of the outfits would fit me and I used to think, ‘This is hell.’ I felt like I had to be the ‘funny girl’ as all the other girls were so pretty and skinny. I’d cry to the show’s therapist and say, ‘I feel so fat’, but she helped me think more clearly.”
She adds, “Looking back, I realise how much I let insecurities taint my experience. I think I look great now! I’ve learned being pretty or thin doesn’t equate to being happy – it’s about feeling content in yourself.”