Pop Idol’s Michelle McManus floored fans as she showed her dramatic nine stone . The singer posted before and after images on Instagram as she told fans that she had dropped the weight after making some diet and exercise changes. The first snap showed her two years ago, not long after having a baby, while the second was recent and showed the star looking unrecognisable in a clinging green dress.

“Sometimes it’s okay to stop and take stock of what you’ve achieved,” said Michelle, who won Pop Idol in 2003. “For the past year or so I’ve been making changes in my life to help me reach the place in which I now find myself. Happily it is a place of good health and contentment.

“I love both versions of myself in the above two photos. The image on the left was taken in late 2022, eight months after I’d given birth to my second beautiful baby and I’d just started a new job presenting The Afternoon Show on @bbcradioscot. "Even though life was going great for me, at the time I was very tired both physically and mentally.

If I’m honest, I was also struggling with my fitness - caring for two babies under three was my priority and working on myself was not something I had dedicated time to considering, let alone doing.” Michelle, who is mum to sons Harry and Nicholas, went on: “The photograph on the right was taken a few weeks ago, behind the scenes at a photoshoot I did in Glasgow. In total I’ve dropped 9st through calorie deficit and introducing exercise into .