Lucy Spraggan details the ‘intense pain’ she suffers from her dietary intolerances

Lucy Spraggan has opened up about her dietary intolerances having unveiled her sensational body transformation in the past months.

The former X Factor contestant, 28, is sporting an athletic physique these days, having shed some weight and toned up – and explained to The Mirror how extreme her digestive issues have been, promoting her to do something about it.

‘It starts as an ache underneath my waistband, the next symptom is bloating, which begins underneath my boobs, then eventually it blows up my tummy to such an extent I can almost hear my skin stretching,’ Lucy explained. ‘The pain is so intense, it feels like an alien wants to break out and in that ­situation, all I can do is lie down, writhe around and wait for it to subside. Often it can take hours.’ 

Lucy has cut out dairy after suffering major pain when she ate cheese. 

Sticking to a vegan regime since then, the songstress explained how she accidentally drank a non-vegan protein shake during lockdown and spent the evening ‘incapacitated and ended up crying on the ­bathroom floor for eight hours’.

‘The bout wrote me off for three days. It was all the confirmation I needed that my body is incapable of ­tolerating dairy products,’ she said. ‘I realised whenever I ate cheese, cream or milk I would have the same reaction, sometimes less intense but sometimes more, so I decided to quit dairy ­altogether.’

Lucy recently marked 11 months of sobriety by sharing a candid post revealing how she’s never ‘felt as alive and awake’ as she does now.

The singer-songwriter overhauled her lifestyle following the breakdown of her marriage.

Writing on social media last month, Lucy explained how she previously spent ‘so much of her life just incredibly sad’ and ‘hiding behind the false confidence that drinking gave’.

The former X Factor contestant, who is releasing a new album soon, also added that giving up alcohol for almost a year is her ‘biggest achievement to date’.

She wrote: ‘Today I am 11 months sober. 11 months ago I had no idea what kind of an impact giving up alcohol would have on my life but I knew that I’d had enough of burying my problems, hiding behind the false confidence that drinking gave me and spending so much of my life just incredibly sad.

‘I didn’t drink every day, I didn’t physically depend on alcohol, I couldn’t think of anything worse than drinking in the morning and I used to think that meant I didn’t have a problem. I didn’t fit the mould of what a person with an alcohol problem looked like.

‘I was a self-described ‘life of the party’ which meant I needed everyone to be having MY kind of fun, everything had to be 100mph, I’d be pushy if you weren’t keeping up with me and I was always the last one to bed. Or not sometimes. But I always ended up in this miserable trance, either at the end of the night or for the days after.’

Lucy then reflected on what she has learned over the past months while she has turned her lifestyle completely upside down.

She wrote: ‘What I know about myself now after 11 months? I have issues with moderation. I either have the whole cake or no cake at all. 

‘I either work out so hard I fracture my own rib or I don’t work out. I know now that it wouldn’t just be one cheeky Guinness, so for me, it’s none at all. 

‘I have learnt what discipline means. With stopping an entire lifetime of habit I have learnt what it means to say no to myself, and in turn what it feels like to say ‘yes’ to myself. 

‘To push my body to do incredible things, learn new skills, let actual authentic happiness into my brain. 11 months of sobriety, amongst a lot of other achievements I hold highly, is my biggest to date. Next month I turn 29 years old and 12 months sober. I have never felt as alive and awake as I do right now.

‘My song ‘Sober’ on my new album ‘Choices’ is one of my favourite I’ve ever written and I can’t wait for you to hear it. You can pre-order it in my bio. Have the best day.’

Lucy has been showcasing her incredible fitness journey on her Instagram page, often posting jaw-dropping snaps of her abs.

The X Factor’s new lifestyle includes four long-distance runs a week totalling 45km as well as three 90 minute weight lifting sessions.

Her everyday diet typically consists of cereal followed by vegetarian sausages and toast, salad and protein for lunch and fish, rice and salad for dinner.

And Lucy stunned fans in March when she revealed she’d dropped three dress sizes after overhauling her fitness regime.

Lucy’s decision to change the way she was living was sparked following her split from wife Georgina Gordon, 31, who she married in 2016 after two years of dating.

The former couple endured several failed fertility attempts and announced their decision to separate last November.

Explaining how fitness has also helped her mentally to Closer magazine, Lucy explained: ‘I needed mental clarity to deal with the preparation of divorce and fitness and feeling good has definitely helped my state of mind.’