I was a bodybuilder living on peanut butter to look lean but was never truly happy with how I looked, says MAFS’ Abigail

MARRIED at First Sight bride Abigail Chahwan has opened up about putting herself through gruelling bodybuilding competitions, but still not feeling truly happy in her body.

The 35-year-old veterinary nurse revealed how she shed 12kg for the bikini contests and would survive on as little as 700 calories in the weeks leading up to it. 

Abigail – who was happily paired with groom John Shepherd, 39, on the Channel 4 show – told The Sun how she wanted to be a bodybuilder after seeing enviable snaps on Instagram.

She revealed: “I’ve always been interested in fitness and sports. I was always named the fastest girl in the school.

“I discovered the gym once I went to university, and I thought, I want to learn how to lift properly. 

“It was kind of when I discovered bodybuilding on Instagram, and I just saw everyone’s physiques and how dedicated they were.”

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Determined Abigail hired a coach, and signed up for her first competition in August 2021 – later doing a second in November 2022.

Immediately she was thrown in the deep end with the “intense” fitness training. 

Abigail, who now boasts 164,000 followers on her Instagram, would work out twice daily, with some weeks doing up to seven days in the gym. 

She explained: “I was doing like an hour on the Stairmaster in the morning at 6am, and then I would go to work and then after work, I’ll go straight back to the gym, do an hour of weights, and then 40 minutes on the Stairmaster again.”

Her new diet was also a shock to the system.

The first stage of the training was “bulking”, where she could enjoy a surplus of food – around 2,200 calories. 

Then came the six-month “cut phase” where you reduce calories and increase your exercise in order to lose body fat and show the muscles that you’ve built.

The MAFS star, who now lives with John after he relocated from Wales to her home in Bournemouth, explained: “All my meals I had to follow certain macros and calories. I ate the same thing more or less every single day.

“On the day of the show, I was just having 50 grams of chicken with a little bit of peanut butter and maybe one rice cake. 

“It’s very, very, very low calories. I think towards the end, I was probably maybe on about 700 to 900 calories.”

Unsurprisingly she “went a bit all out” with her first “proper” meal after the show was over, and tucked into burgers, a milkshake, fries and chicken bites. 

Abigail shared how her social life during training was not existent and she became a “bit of a shell” of herself towards the end due to lack of energy. 

She added: “You do have to sacrifice a lot of things if this is kind of your goal. 

“If I was going out for dinner, I couldn’t eat what was on the menu. You’d have to take your own meal prep.

“I remember just trying to get through the day and obviously when you’re trying to have such a high pressure job and you need to focus mentally and also physically, I found that very, very taxing.”

One of the stand-out memories for her was during a family holiday when brought her own protein powder with her and weighed out her food on scales at the dinner table – which the waiter found baffling.

She’d also have to be strict with what she drank, and would “water load” up to five litres in a day, which would see her rush to the loo every half an hour.

This dramatically decreased on show day, where she could only consume 100ml with meals to avoid her “bloating.”

Through her extreme efforts, she lost 12kg, which was aimed to be fat rather than muscle.

However, despite being the “leanest” she’d ever been, Abigail revealed she still didn’t feel good enough. 

She candidly admitted: “It’s crazy because none of my clothes fit me at all, and I never saw myself as lean enough. 

“You look at it as an object, your body. You poke holes in your body, and be like, I’m not lean enough here, not lean enough there. I need to lose fat there. 

“So even though I was the leanest I’ve ever been in my entire life, I was still at that point didn’t think I was lean enough or stage ready. 

“You always wish you had a couple more weeks before you get on stage because you’ll keep competing against so many other hardworking, incredible athletes.”

Not only was the competition taxing physically, but it also set her back “thousands” too.

Alongside £250-a-month coaching, she forked out for £30 an hour posing classes, £200 competition entry fees, and her costumes – with her stand-out pink sparkly showday bikini costing a whopping £600.

Abigail described bodybuilding as a “weird sport” putting your bodies up to be judged aesthetically, but admitted she found the whole concept “very exciting and thrilling.”

Each of her two competitions had three rounds, and she was delighted to end up coming second in a number of these.

Coming so close to winning has inspired Abigail that, despite the extremely intensive training, she would actually be open to do another bodybuilding competition in the future. 

She joked: “That’s why I feel like I need to go back again.”

While MAFS boyfriend John is in full support of her pursuits, Abigail joked he won’t be joining her in a bodybuilding competition any time soon.

“I didn’t think he would ever get on stage”, she laughed. “I’m sure he would support me if I wanted to do it again.”

Speaking about whether it was a “healthy” competition for her mentally, she insisted: “I think for a short amount of time, if you want to work towards a goal, then yes. 

“But I think before you start, I think you have to be in a good state of mind and I think be happy within your body. 

“I think I don’t think anyone should do it to kind of lose weight because it’s a very extreme sport.”

Now, Abigail – who now gyms four times a week and is training to become a fitness instructor to help others – says she has a more “healthy relationship” with food. 

“I don’t kind of like to punish myself if I go out for a burger”, she shared.

“It’s like trying to find a balance, which to be honest has taken me some time, a good few years to get to that point.”

The reality star said that some habits die hard and she still does weight her portions. 

She explained: “I still stick to a certain amount of calories. I’m on about 1,600 calories at the minute. I still feel like I still have a lot of energy. 

“I’m still enjoying my food and having all the foods I like to do while still maintaining my goal.”