Lily Allen has revealed that she shed the pounds recently, after doctors diagnosed her with a heart murmur.

The 22-year-old singer, who recently said she was going to quit music in three years time, said that she went to the doctors for a check-up when they found irregularities with her heartbeat.

Allen said:  “I found out I had a heart murmur about three months ago. I had switched doctors and just went for a routine check up, which is when they discovered I had this irregular murmur.

“I have been asthmatic all my life, but this was really quite scary. When they asked me how much exercise I did, I had to be honest and say hardly any.”

She continued to Grazia: “I make sure I work out three times a week now, and I don’t hold back. It’s a hardcore routine and I’m usually in the gym for at least an hour-and-a-half.

“I used to love nothing more than sitting in front of the telly with two packets of Ginger Nuts and two bags of milk bottle sweets – and I’d devour the lot.

"But this heart thing has made me cut back on all that kind of crap.”