Vanessa Feltz, 64, shares the secrets to maintaining her slimmed-down physique and reveals she is 'experimenting' in the dating pool

She was launched into the world of showbiz in the early Nineties. 

And at 64 years old Vanessa Feltz is showing no signs of slowing down and is more confident in herself than ever, having showed off her slimmed-down physique last week.

The presenter has been candid about her challenges with her weight in the past, having fluctuated dramatically between sizes 10 and 22 over three decades, before having a gastric bypass in 2019. 

But Vanessa has shared the secret to her physique as she credited her busy schedule and grandchildren for her active lifestyle - and hinted that she is also back on the dating scene.

Speaking to the Daily Mail as part of her campaign with AXA UK to highlight the benefits of cross-generational friendships she explained: 'I do lots and lots of walking. I do lots and lots of running around. I've got four grandchildren who I see all the time and I'm very busy with them.

'In terms of kind of formal exercising I do a bit of weight resisting because everybody says you've got to because of your muscles as you get older, and that is, I'm afraid, the full b****y sum total of it.'

Vanessa Feltz, 64, has shared the secret to her slimmed down physique as the star revealed she is 'experimenting' in the dating pool and imparted her romantic advice

The presenter has been candid about her challenges with her weight in the past, having fluctuated dramatically between sizes 10 and 22 over three decades (pictured in 2009)

Vanessa was also asked her thoughts on NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis).

Despite its fancy name, NEAT exercises refer to the energy used to carry out any daily activity that isn't a strict form of exercise. 

Vanessa joked: 'I don't wanna lunge or hoover. I don't fancy either of those things. Neither lunging nor hoovering is my favourite thing.'

On how she's maintained her weight loss over the years, she added: 'It's not because I've suddenly become virtuous and I'd suddenly really genuinely prefer a stick of celery to an enormous bowl of chocolate mousse.

'I wouldn't. I still prefer chocolate mousse. It's just I had a gastric bypass, so that's the reason why I'm slimmer than I was.'

Regretting her choice to not have waited for the weight loss jabs, she said: 'I had a massive lifelong weight problem as everybody knows, but my timing really stank because in 2019 I had a very expensive gastric bypass which I paid for.

'It cost a tonne of money, and if I just hung in and hung in, I could have just got the b****y fat jabs like everybody else... I'm the idiot that spent all that dosh on a gastric bypass.'

Vanessa also shared that while she has had Botox since she was 37, she hasn't given in to any other cosmetic surgery. 

'I haven't had anything. I've been having Botox since I was 40 or 37, I think, 37. You can see I haven't had any fillers or anything like that, so I'm a bit scared of them.'

Vanessa hinted that there is some romance in her life as she teased: 'I have been, let's put it this way, experimenting. Let's put it that way' (pictured with her ex Ben Ofoedu in 2021) 

Meanwhile Vanessa hinted that there is some romance in her life as she teased: 'I have been, let's put it this way, experimenting. Let's put it that way.'

But the star, who was in a relationship with Ben Ofoedu for 16 years from 2006 to 2023, was keen to impart her romantic advice to her younger self and the current generation as she urged: 'don't be picked.' 

She explained: 'I think one of the things I would tell my younger self when it comes to romantic relationships, is rather than just being absolutely delighted to be picked by some bloke, don't be the one who's pleased to be picked, be the picker, not the pickee.

'Be the one who has the confidence to be the b****y one that chooses, not the one that says, "Oh, you chose me. I'm so grateful, that's so kind of you. Yes, of course I will enter into a full scale relationship with you".

'I mean, just don't be picked to be the picker, I think is what I would say.'

The star also revealed how her confidence has grown with age as she confessed: 'Everything's very easy with hindsight. 

'When you look back you think 'oh I shouldn't have been worried about that. I shouldn't have felt lack of confidence about that. I should have been cool and chilled and just enjoyed…' 

But obviously at the time you don't know that, so you feel absolutely frenzied and miserable and worried. 

You can't just tell your younger self to be confident because why would you, you're young and you've got nothing to be confident about.

'You don't feel confident because you're not confident of what you know.'

As well as her romantic life, friendship is incredibly important to Vanessa and she has teamed up with AXA UK alongside her pal James Jordan for a campaign highlighting the benefits of cross-generational friendships and bringing different generations together.

Vanessa and James have been friends and regularly spend time together since their stint on the dancing show, despite their 16-year age gap (pictured on Strictly in 2013)

'We just did get on....He was patient and decent and nice, but better than that because he was also funny, provocative, loves an argument, loves a political argument', Vanessa said of James

Speaking on the importance of having friends across different generations, she said: 'I hope people take notice of it because you can get very locked in to your friendship groups'

Research commissioned by AXA UK found six in 10 (60 per cent) have friends from other generations, while 75 per cent said they will always make time to speak to older people and learn from them.

Vanessa and James have been friends and regularly spend time together since their stint on the dancing show, despite their 16-year age gap.

'We just did get on....He was patient and decent and nice, but better than that because he was also funny, provocative, loves an argument, loves a political argument.'

Speaking on the importance of having friends across different generations, she said: 'I hope people take notice of it because you can get very locked in to your friendship groups. 

'But it can be great because it can broaden out your life so much to have a friendship with somebody from a different era, different age, different interests, different, you know, different background. Don't rule yourself out. That's what I'm saying.'

Vanessa Feltz has partnered with AXA UK to highlight the benefits of cross-generational friendships and bringing different generations together.