As the star of hit TV show Below Deck, Hannah Ferrier has long been admired for her no-nonsense attitude and enviable figure.

However, after leaving the series, and having her daughter Ava the Sydneysider who is currently starring in Network Ten’s The Real Love Boat, suddenly found herself struggling to fit into her old clothes.

“I decided earlier this year I needed to get back into shape so I reached out to Jenny Craig and lost 11kg in 12 weeks on their Max Up program,” Hannah, 36, says.

“I found after having my daughter, who’s now two, I was reaching for my phone nightly to order dinner in because once you put a baby down at seven o’clock, the last thing you want to do is go and spend an hour in the kitchen.

“After having Ava, I had a big chunk to lose, and I’ve never had that in my life before. I’d tried on my own, but just couldn’t lose the weight. I had a moment of realisation when I had my first fitting for my wedding dress and wasn’t quite where I wanted to be to walk down the aisle to my now husband [Josh Roberts]. I had a bit of a freak out and decided now was the time to lose weight, and since then life’s only gotten better.”

Here Hannah shares more about motherhood, marriage, getting healthy and helping unlucky in love singles find their match.

You’ve had a big year fitness wise and work wise, as you’re now one of the stars of The Real Love Boat, shooting the show mainly overseas – how did you find it?

The best thing was traveling again – I think we all missed travel during Covid but that was my whole life for 10 years so I really missed it! It was also amazing to see these great young people falling in love. The most challenging thing was definitely being away from my daughter. I’m normally with her 24/7 so that was a massive adjustment and can’t say I didn’t have a little cry every now and then.

You had romantic ups and downs on Below Deck but are now happily married. Did that change your outlook when giving advice on the Love Boat?

Yes, it did. I think everyone often thinks they know what they want out of a partner but quite often it’s not. Being able to guide our singles and help them find someone they might not have given a second look before was really rewarding.

What’s the difference working on a huge ship like this compared to a luxury yacht?

On a superyacht you just don’t have a lot of space. But on a cruise ship you can walk around all day without running into someone else who you work with, which is great!

You got married in March – was that also a reason for losing weight?

Yes it was. I’d always had quite a nice flat stomach. But after Ava was born, you know things change and I did have the dreaded mum tum. So that was definitely one of the target areas that I was looking to lose weight.

I had to get fitted in my dress up until two days before my wedding and am so happy I’d lost weight. It was amazing to walk down the aisle on my wedding day feeling super confident. Even though I wasn’t at my goal weight at that point, I had dropped an entire dress size by then and felt amazing.

How does it feel to be at your goal weight now?

It feels so amazing and so great to chat to my consultant about maintaining it! I think when I lost 7.3 kgs in my first four weeks, it really motivated me to keep going! They provided all the meals along with the coaching about things like portion control which made it super easy to follow. Once the weight started coming off and I could see the results I just pushed harder to stay on track!

What’s been the highlight?

I honestly just love the fact that I’m in all my old clothes. I feel confident when I leave the house and I’m just back to the old Hannah, it feels good. It feels amazing to be back in all my pre baby clothes. Probably my proudest moment was fitting into my pre-Ava jeans. That was a big moment for me. It was a hard two and a half years looking at all my beautiful clothes and knowing I couldn’t wear them!

It feels amazing to be comfortable and happy in my body again and I feel like I have more energy on a day-to-day basis. I can’t wait to see what life holds for me next.

The Real Love Boat screens 8.30pm Wednesday and Thursday on Network Ten and 10Play