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LILY ALLEN has revealed her recent dramatic weight loss came after doctors ordered her to get fit when they discovered she had a heart murmur. The 22-year-old singer shed 19lb and dropped from a size 12 to an eight in six weeks.
- PUBLISHED: Wed 28 Nov 2007, 11:10 AM UPDATED: Sun 5 Apr 2015, 12:40 AM
Miss Allen said yesterday: '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.'
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And it was that medical discovery that turned her life on its head. She 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 told the magazine Grazia: '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.'
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.
Miss Allen, who is dating Chemical Brothers star Ed Simons, 37, recently revealed she wants to make only one more album before retiring at 25 to start a family.