Eamonn Holmes used to eat SEVEN meals BEFORE lunchtime presenting morning TV

Eamonn Holmes has said that being a morning TV presenter ‘ages’ you – and leads to weight gain.

The 61-year-old worked on early-morning shows for 26 years of his career, beginning with GMTV in 1993.

Following this, he moved to Sky News in 2005 and has most recently fronted This Morning on ITV on Fridays and school holidays, alongside wife Ruth Langsford.

‘I did 26 years on breakfast TV. It’s very ageing. I didn’t realise how much it changed my life, your habit and how you are. I was three stone heavier when I was on GMTV than I am now,’ he told the Daily Star. ‘The pictures of me in my 30s and 40s, I just can’t look at!’

Explaining his eating habits at the time, he said: ‘You eat more. You get up early and have a bowl of cornflakes at 4AM, you get to work and you have a bacon roll then you might eat something on air like a doughnut then you finish at 9AM and someone says “you fancy some breakfast?” 

‘Then you have elevenses and you’ve had six or seven meals before lunch. You are running on adrenaline but your cortisol is all off.’

At 15 stone now, Eamonn said he weighed 18 stone at his heaviest, when he was a younger man.

He also said working specifically on breakfast news was stressful and unhealthy as he would find himself ‘arguing with politicians’ first thing in the morning, five days a week.

These comments follow the news that Eamonn and Ruth, 60, have been axed from their regular Friday slot presenting This Morning.

In a shake-up announced by ITV at the end of last year, the couple were revealed to have been replaced with Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary.

Eamonn and Ruth, who presented the Friday morning slot for 14 years, will host the ITV show from Monday to Thursday during the schools’ six-week summer holiday.

The duo appeared on screen for their last show last month, during which Eamonn made a dig about bosses ‘getting rid’ of them during a chat about discounted trees, before the pair both grew emotional while saying goodbye.

It has recently been claimed that the longtime presenters have reportedly been told to keep quiet about their axing. 

According to sources, the presenters have been advised to not address losing their slot on the ITV programme to avoid missing out on more work opportunities.  

A source told The Sun: ‘Ruth and Eamonn are obviously upset and feel humiliated about being put out to pasture. But they’ve been advised to keep schtum or risk losing more work.

‘It could damage their brand if they lash out.’ 

MailOnline has previously contacted representatives for Eamonn, Ruth and ITV for comment.