Chantelle Houghton says it's easy to pile on the pounds ''without noticing''.

The 30-year-old TV personality - who has 19-month-old daughter Dolly with ex-fiance Alex Reid - is delighted she has managed to shift her extra weight recently and is hoping to maintain her slim figure.

She told new! magazine: ''I'm really proud of myself this week as I've pretty much reached the weight I was before I had Dolly.

''I won't lie, it was hard work at times, but I'm glad I did it. It's amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind to it.

''I'm not going to slip back into bad old habits. I'm also going to buy myself a couple of pairs of skinny jeans from Zara and make sure I stay in them. I've been living in leggings and it's so easy to put on a few pounds without noticing.''

Chantelle is currently single and insists online dating is a great idea as you can get a ''fairly good idea'' about a person from their profiles.

She added: ''I don't think there's anything wrong with online dating and Preston [her ex-husband who is on Tinder] won't be at all bothered about people knowing. I think it's a good idea as you could spend two hours chatting to someone in a bar, then at the end of the night find something out about them that makes you realise they're not for you. At least with online dating you can get a fairly good idea what they're like from their profile, so it can save a lot of time.''