Catherine Tyldesley on staying in shape: 'I worry more about fast food than finding a man'

Catherine Tyldesley on staying in shape: 'I worry more about fast food than finding a man'

A fast-food restaurant in Essex is one of the last places you’d expect to bump into the northern star of a northern soap.

And in her plunging black lace dress and stilettos, Coronation Street's Catherine Tyldesley looks like she is acting out a scene in The Only Way Is Essex.

But this is one Manchester girl who is sticking to her roots.

Despite us bumping into the Rovers Return beauty in TOWIE country, she’s not ready to swap the cobbles for Chigwell just yet.

“I don’t vajazzle,” she laughs. “I think it is the most ridiculous idea ever.”

And she might not be welcome at the reality show’s hottest nightspot Sugar Hut either â€" she says she’s not a fan of the TOWIE clobber.

“I’m not sure about Essex fashion. I am into vintage,” she says.

“The Essex girls always look very glamorous but I like traditional and classic 1950s-inspired stuff. Th e girls in TOWIE all look great but for me personally that look would not be my choice.”

She is, however, not a stranger to fake tan â€" thanks to her character, spoilt and sexy barmaid Eva Price.

“Eva wears loads of it so I have to wear it all the time.

“It doesn’t stay on and so the Corrie make-up girls have to follow me around with a big bronzer brush. I look a bit of a mess, it gets patchy,” she laughs.

So it’s Eva who would really feel at home on the ITV reality show?

“She’d love it, she would get on really well with the TOWIE girls and I’m sure she’d love the Essex men as well. But I am not too sure whether I’d enjoy a night out with her.

“I suspect she would be a little too over-the-top for me and I would have to dress down a bit.

“I like nice restaurants and cocktails, I wouldn’t take her to the places I go to but she’s good fun, I’ll give her that.”

Catherine, recently split from her toyboy boyfriend and personal trainer Sam Witter, 22, also has some sage advice for her unlucky-in-love alter-ego.

Catherine with her ex Sam

“In regards to men I would tell Eva to find a good job and focus on herself for a bit and stop looking for a boyfriend,” she says.

Despite her own break-up the actress has just started going out on the town again, raising eyebrows at a restaurant in Ilford when she turned up with dashing Brit actor and male model Upen Patel.

He recently starred in the Brit flick The Runaway with Catherine’s former Corrie co-star Helen Flanagan.

But the 29-year-old beauty insists she’s not playing the field just yet.

“I am single at the moment, I am enjoying it. I am a really happy, positive person and I was single for a long time before Sam so it doesn’t bother me being single again.

“I am focusing on work. I am not looking for a man, I am happy as I am.”

Things began to go wrong for Catherine and Sam following a holiday in Dubai early this year. It is thought the seven-year age gap and Sam’s reluctance to settle down were sources of t ension.

But despite the split from the health and fitness expert, who she credits with helping her drop four-and-a-half stone, dropping from a size 22 to a size 10, Catherine is still committed to keeping fit and staying trim.

The couple set up a diet and fitness company together and she is still happy to offer tips on a healthy lifestyle.

“I eat a high-protein, low-carb diet but I don’t believe in completely excluding carbs,” she says.

“I am good 90% of the time and if you are good 90% of the time you can afford to treat yourself a little bit.

“It is all about balance. As long as you eat well and exercise you should be fine.

“For me it is hard to stay in shape. Some people have good genes and it is easy, but I am the first to admit I have a fat gene.

“Luckily I enjoy exercise, I don’t see it as a hardship. It is hard work but it is something I enjoy doing.

“I train four to five times a week when I am not busy but if I am busy it can just be once or twice. It depends on my hours. I mix weights and cardio intervals.”

Catherine when she was size 22 and 15 stone

It was in her teens that Manchester-born Catherine began to gain weight, peaking at an unhealthy 15 stone. But she doesn’t blame her parents, Janet and Graham.

“Everything that we had at home was nutritious and home-grown and well-balanced,” she says. “It was in my own time I ate badly.

“I would go to the tuck shop or, if I went round to a friend’s house and their mum asked ‘Have you had your tea?’ I’d say no, even if I had.

“Since then I’ve educated myself on nutrition. It’s the sort of stuff you should be taught at school. When I did food technology we cooked pizza, cake and white bread â€" everything that is bad for you.

“I regret letting myself get like that. Life is so precious. You’ve really got to look after your body.”

Catherine slimmed down to her current svelte size well before she got the part in Corrie in 2011 but she admits that she still has one guilty pleasure.

“I†™m usually pretty boring and controlled but when I’ve had a drink my weakness is chips.

“I’m a traditional Northern girl so I am partial to fish and chips. I lost a lot of weight in the last few years so I don’t eat much fast food but I do believe that you should treat yourself in moderation â€" I still have treat meals.”

Catherine, who studied drama and dance at the Birmingham School of Acting, started her career with roles in Holby City followed by two months in Emmerdale playing prison officer Abi Peterson.

She’d even popped up on the Street before, delivering Sunita Alahan’s twins.

Catherine in Coronation Street

But she says it would now take a lot to drag her away from the Weatherfield cobbles where she has a gang of close friends including screen mum Michelle Collins, Michelle Keegan and Paula Lane who plays Eva’s partner in crime Kylie Platt.

“It’s like a home from home,” she says. “I am really happy there for the moment and will have a busy summer with strong storylines which is great.

“I am honoured that they keep giving me good stories so I don’t know what would tempt me away â€" we’ll have to wait and see.”

However, one thing she’s certain she will not be doing is following Helen Flanagan into the jungle.

Catherine flew to Australia in 2011 to support her Corrie pal Antony Cotton when he appeared on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.

“Just being there in the jungle was bad enough,” she laughs.

“I know I would never go on the show. I would be terrible on it. I would be bored and hungry and I am not a pleasan t person to be around when I am hungry.

“I had a lot of sympathy with Helen because I saw how hard it was for Antony. I don’t think people appreciate just how difficult it is for people who go on the show.”