"Only 500 Calories A Day Was All We Ate…"

Remember the Cheeky Song?

"We are the Cheeky Girls, we are the Cheeky Girls, you are the cheeky boy, you are the cheeky boy..."

In 2002,  26-year-old twins - Monica and Gabriela Irimia partnered together and named themselves the Cheeky Girls. They made their debut with "Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)".

It was only after they were being signed to a record label that their lifestyle gradually started to change their diet and bodies.

'We had been quietly studying law but suddenly having a hit record meant we were always touring, recording, going to meetings and making personal appearances. Our lives were out of our control,' says Monica.

Then, in 2003, their record company Telstar went bankrupt, owing them £1.3million. The girls became incredibly depressed - and took out their frustrations on their own bodies.

'We'd always loved running, it helped us relax,' says Monica, 'but it became more of a quick fix to make us feel better. We ran for longer periods, maybe an hour instead of 30 minutes, twice a day.'

It was Monica who first developed anorexia nervosa.

'I developed an obsession for going into supermarkets to count calories on food packets. I'd stare at the fat, protein and salt content and memorise them.

'The foods I chose were mainly chocolate, cakes and ice cream. I loved pistachio nuts, but when I saw that there were 650 calories in one tiny pack I didn't put even one nut in my mouth for a year-and-a-half.

'I would walk round for an hour then buy two apples and a carrot.'

She enjoyed looking at tempting foods, knowing they would not pass her lips. 'It gave me power,' she says. 'I loved chocolates, but now I could resist them. It was something I could control.'

heir stage act demanded that the twins bare their midriffs in tiny hotpants and crop-tops. Noticing that Gabriela's tummy was now even flatter than hers, Monica started taking laxatives before concerts.

Both girls were existing on just 500 calories a day.

What happened next is again typical of anorexics. Monica's portion control became so extreme she lost a dramatic amount of weight very quickly. 'I weighed everything,' she says.

'Our brains were not functioning properly - we always felt dizzy,' says Monica. 'We felt barely alive yet somehow, like machines, got through the touring.'

This lack of brain function, says Dr Key, is due to a lack of glucose - found in carbohydrates - slowing down and even shrinking the brain and causing memory to be poor.

Finally, in the summer of 2006, Margit and Ray realised that the girls were seriously ill.

But then, towards the end of 2006, at the age of 23, Gabriela suddenly changed.

'It was as if something in my brain had been flicked on,' she says. 'We had loads of party invitations and I was fed up with not going out and meeting people and even more fed up of counting calories. I decided to go to a party and thought Monica would come but she refused, saying there would be canapés there.'

But Gabriela was exhausted. She hated photographs of herself not smiling because she was preoccupied with thinking of food and of taking laxatives and antacids. She gave up the laxatives overnight and felt ghastly for two weeks, 'but I knew my body would recover and it did'.

Sure enough, four months after returning to a more normal eating pattern, she had put on a stone and her periods returned. She had the energy to have fun and be sociable again. Inevitably, Monica became jealous.

'Gabriela looked great,' admits Monica. 'She was so happy and lively and now she had male attention - I was getting left behind. She said to me, "Try to be you again, Monica."'

Almost miraculously, that was all it took to convince Monica to resume eating - albeit slowly at first.

'I felt guilty to start off with, but I only had to look at her to know she was right. After four weeks I felt completely different and after a few months my periods returned.

'Once I started thinking rationally again, I felt angry with myself that I had tried to destroy my body in such a cruel way. I had wasted three years being obsessed with food.'

But while stress or personal problems have resulted some celebrities to succumb to anorexia, American singer, Jessica Simpson, gained almost 30 pounds on top of her normal weight over Christmas last year.

BEFORE

AFTER

Its a 'no-win-situation' when it comes to losing weight or gaining chubs for these celebrities as they are constantly under the media's watchful eye.

Compare your own photos and see how much you have changed throughout the years.

Are you happy with your current weight/size?

Who is your healthy celebrity role model and what is their body type?