Lucy Mecklenburgh is in high spirits when we catch up with her. The former TOWIE star, who lives in Manchester with her fiancé Ryan Thomas and their two children, tells new the sun is shining up north.
“I’ve made the right move, haven’t I?” jokes the 34-year-old Londoner, who owns her own workout brand as well as a successful property business.
“It’s a good day,” she adds. “I know this is controversial, but I love January and February. I love the reset – getting back into a routine, eating well, getting the house in order. I’m genuinely in my element right now.”
Lucy loves the lack of FOMO at this time of year – because “nobody is really doing anything” – and proudly tells us she binge watched four episodes of Bridgerton last night and is “living her best life”.
But by the sounds of it, her home life with Ryan, 41, son Roman, five, and daughter Lilah, three, is anything but quiet. She says mornings in the Mecklenburgh-Thomas household are full-on from the moment the alarm goes off.
“By 8am, we’re already out of the door,” Lucy explains. “Before that, it’s absolute chaos – getting the kids up, breakfast battles, trying to find both shoes for each child and hoping they’re each on the right foot. You know the drill.”
Once the school run is done, she finally gets a small window to herself. “When I get back, I’ll do a quick home workout, have breakfast, then crack on with work,” she says. “That little bit of time really helps set me up for the day.”
Lucy and Ryan met back in 2017 while competing on the gruelling reality survival series Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls. They have now built a life that feels a world away from their early days in the public eye.
After getting engaged in 2019, they welcomed Roman in 2020 and Lilah two years later. And while they have both enjoyed success on the small screen – Ryan was in Coronation Street for 16 years until 2016 and Lucy left TOWIE in 2013 after three years on the show – she says the daily realities of parenting have grounded them both like nothing else could.
“Oh, parenthood changes everything. You go from being spontaneous to having to plan everything,” she says. “Dinner needs a babysitter booked weeks in advance, plus a back-up plan. But you adapt and you grow together, too.”
Lucy is quick to admit real life can be messy – quite literally, in the case of her other half. “He has what I call the Thomas Trail,” she laughs. “Wherever he goes, I know what snack he’s eaten, because the wrapper’s lying somewhere. There’s one sock here, one sock there. You can always tell when Ryan’s been in the kitchen, too – it’s like mass destruction.”
Asked about the moments that make it all worthwhile, however, and her face lights up. “My son read a book for the first time on his own the other night. Those little milestones are just amazing. And when people say your kids have good manners – the please and thank yous – that always means a lot.”
There are plenty of moments she can look back on and laugh about now, too. “The disasters happen weekly. Meltdowns in shops, total honesty with strangers – kids tell the truth and it’s wild.”
As for discipline, Lucy thought she’d be the strict one but was in for a surprise. “They listen to him more than me,” she admits. “I’ll say, ‘Right, I’m getting Daddy,’ and suddenly they behave. I’m like, why not for me?”
Like many parents, Lucy has had to relax some of the rules she once felt strongly about – particularly when it comes to screens. “Screen time is the big one,” she says. “I was convinced we’d raise them without screens, but then real life kicks in. I’m careful with YouTube, but they watch Disney films and play games. It’s the world they’re growing up in.”
Lucy is also honest when it comes to “mum guilt”, especially as her work takes her away from home at times. “I run wellness retreats, I work in London, and you do feel guilty if you miss something at school. But it’s funny, you never hear about ‘dad guilt’, do you? We put so much pressure on ourselves. What matters is that my kids know I work and that I love my job.”
Her passion for wellness is what led Lucy to team up with Warburtons on its new fibre campaign – a partnership which genuinely surprised her. “I couldn’t believe the stats,” she says. “Ninety-six per cent of us aren’t getting enough fibre. Everything’s been about protein for years, and we’ve totally forgotten about fibre and diversity.”
As a busy lady, Lucy says the appeal lies in its simplicity. “Introducing the Warburtons Fibre Fix bread has been so easy,” she explains. “The kids will eat it – beans on toast, scrambled eggs, sandwiches – and I don’t have to think about it.”
The Fibre Fix sandwich she’s talking about delivers 13.6g of fibre – the amount most Brits are missing daily – and Lucy says it shows how small changes can make a huge difference. “It doesn’t need to be scary or complicated. Bread is familiar, and it’s packed with seeds, grains and nuts.”
As for what she eats on an average day, Lucy says that rather than worrying about calories, she focuses on how food makes her feel. “I don’t track anything. I just aim for colour and variety on my plate. If people did that and stopped overthinking it, we’d all be better off,” she says.
With her fitness routine now centred around Pilates, yoga and meditation rather than intense HIIT workouts, Lucy says her priorities have shifted. “It’s about feeling good now, not punishing myself. But that’s just me. Everyone’s different – you just have to find what works for you.”