Jennifer Ellison, 40, looks incredible in a yellow bikini as she lounges by the pool in Turkey after revealing she has ditched the fad diets

Jennifer Ellison looked fantastic as she lounged by the pool in Turkey on Wednesday after revealing she had left fad diets behind.

The former Brookside star, 40 – who was a size 18 at her largest – showed off her figure in a cropped yellow bikini.

She paired it with contrasting thong bottoms and shielded her face from the sun with a straw hat.

In September, Jennifer – who found fame as Emily Shadwick in Brookside – revealed she has stopped dieting and is happy with her weight of just over 10 stone after years of yo-yo dieting.

She told new! Magazine: ‘I’m not the smallest I’ve ever been, but I’m at a happy weight where I feel good when I get into the pool in a bikini or a suit.’

Gorgeous: The former Brookside star – who was a size 18 at her largest – showed off her figure in a cropped yellow bikini

She added: ‘I’m in a happy and confident place. I’m currently about 10¾th. I no longer feel like I’m in that rat race where I have to look great. I stopped trying to diet.

‘When you do fad diets they don’t work, so I gave up. My weight has gone up and down so much over the years, so I just try to eat healthy now.”

Jennifer told the publication that she lost her self-confidence after gradually gaining weight and going down to a size 18.

She recalled, “My agent called me, and the thought of auditioning…I would turn it down. I would say, ‘I can’t do it.’ I had lost my confidence. I had literally given up on myself’.

Last year, Jennifer – who shares three sons Bobby, Harrison and Charlie with husband Rob – revealed that before taking part in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins: ‘I had given up on myself. I never looked in the mirror.

‘I didn’t think I would ever be able to get on stage again because no one would want me. From a girl known for acting and men’s magazines, I had grown into a mother and teacher.’

Jennifer previously admitted during an appearance on Loose Women: ‘I started to worry about seeing people from my past because I thought they were looking at me and thinking, what the hell happened to you?

‘People in the shops would say, “God girl, you’ve put on weight, haven’t you!” I was a size 18 in self-destruct mode. I wouldn’t look in the mirror, I didn’t care. Everything was about my (sons).”

In September, Jennifer – who found fame as Emily Shadwick in Brookside – revealed she has stopped dieting and is happy with her weight of just over 10 stone.

Lifestyle: The actress explained how she went through years of yo-yo dieting

Confident: She told new! Magazine: ‘I’m not the smallest I’ve ever been, but I’m at a happy weight where I feel good when I step into the pool in a bikini or costume’

Beach ready: She added: ‘I’m in a happy and confident place. I’m currently about 10¾th. I no longer feel like I’m in that rat race where I have to look great. I’ve stopped trying to diet

Changes: Jennifer continued, “When you do fad diets, they don’t work, so I gave up. My weight has gone up and down so much over the years, so I just try to eat healthy now.”

She decided to take drastic measures and went to a detox center where she was given almost 400 calories a day.

Jennifer added: ‘I would take a slice of apple and walk six miles and then come back starving. I was told the perfect analogy about wanting to help your son – like when you need to put on a flight oxygen mask, you put yours on first.

“To be a good mother to them, you have to take care of yourself.” For me it was self-neglect, everything revolved around the boys.’

Jennifer rose to fame with Brookside in 1998, in which she played Emily Shadwick until 2003. During this period she became a favorite of the boys’ magazines.

She shares her three children Bobby, Harrison and Charlie with husband Rob Tickle, whom she married in October 2009.