Gary Barlow's six-day diet

Gary Barlow used to get up early so he could eat more.

The Take That singer - who famously ballooned to over 240lbs after the group split up in 1996 - admits he has learned how to control his eating habits by not always being strict with himself but found it hard to stick to in a sensible way at first.

He explained: "The key to me was portion sizes and I think people forget that, if you can control your portion size you can eat what you want and you've cracked it.

"I have Saturdays off, I was getting a lot of advice and this guy said if you just diet seven days a week, you'll get fed up and fall off the wagon.

"I'd get up early on a Saturday to get started but I would make such a pig of myself and I thought 'I don't want to be this' and after a few weeks the food got less and now it's a part of life, I know when I'm full and I even recognise when I'm full but want to keep eating because I'm a pig!"

The 'Patience' hitmaker also knows he needs to work out regularly to help keep his weight down.

He added: "I must say if I didn't train as much I'd be a different size but I work out every day except Saturdays and Sundays. I'm a cardio man, I do tennis, I do Pilates. I've never done yoga."