ITV Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley has opened up about her 12 stone weight loss, insisting that she now feels more comfortable in her skin than ever before

Lisa Riley has shared one poignant request with fans after losing a staggering 12 stone.

The Emmerdale actress, 48, who plays the loveable Mandy Dingle on the ITV soap, has overhauled her appearance in the past couple of years and has inspired hundreds of fans to do the same. The star dropped from a size 28 to a size 12 in just 18 months, but was left with loose skin, and ended up having to undergo four surgeries to get rid of it.

The soap star was surprised by the side effects of losing so much weight so quickly. Despite being thrilled with her weight loss, Lisa found herself struggling with over 1.5 stone of loose skin. However, she’s now feeling more comfortable in her skin than ever.

Speaking to Woman Magazine, Lisa has opened up about her weight loss, and has said that giving up booze has been instrumental in not only her weight loss, but also her wellbeing, and recommends it to anyone who is aiming to overhaul their lifestyles. Lisa stopped drinking almost a decade ago.

“The joy is saying no is fantastic. We had a function at work recently – I had three sparkling waters and then got a cab home. Back in the day, I’d have been the one eating Paracetamol for breakfast and feeling like s**t the next day in work.”

Of her epic 12 stone weight loss, Lisa shared: “I’m more comfortable in my own skin than I have ever been in my life. I’m as honest as they come. I’ll put a picture on Instagram of me waxing my tache, because that’s real. I’ve had people take selfies of me with filters without my knowledge and it’s given me lashes and contour. I’m like, ‘don’t put that anywhere, because that’s not me’. I run away from anything fake.”

It comes after Lisa recently confessed she was scared before undergoing the four surgeries – a fleur de lis tummy tuck which left her with vertical and horizontal scars, surgery to remove the loose skin from her thighs, a boob lift and the removal of her “bingo wings”. But she was determined to push herself forward and take “responsibility” for not maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

She said: “When you are on this weight loss journey, food becomes the enemy and you have to go to the gym, you have to move. But the movement was becoming a severe problem. It really hurt, it rubbed and it would get red, and it was hard to clean between the folds.”

“The night before the surgery, I was so petrified everybody thought I wasn’t going to go through with it. I was thinking that in 11 hours I could be dead. I might not wake up. She added: “Could I have lived with the loose skin for the rest of my life? Yes, but I wouldn’t have been happy. I don’t feel like I have had cosmetic surgery, I have corrected what I had done to myself.”