ONE of Northern Ireland most loved drag artists, Titti Von Trump (a.k.a. Robert McCready) has opened up about his battle to shed pounds, after a shock realisation that he could only fit into size 20 dresses.
After that shock Robert has shed more than three stone and eight dress sizes and is feeling better than ever.
With weight creeping on in the autumn of 2018 Robert headed to buy a new dress early six months ago.
“I went in to purchase the dress, took it into the fitting room, picked up a size fourteen, thinking oh Nope, no fourteen, sixteen, no, eighteen, no, and a twenty was just about zipping up on me,” explained Robert. “It was shocking, really shocking.”
Still performing three nights a week, as well as his full-time job, Robert knew he had to change things in his life.
“When you are performing, all eyes are on you and I always felt very conscious of what I was wearing,” he said “I’ll just try and wear looser clothes.
“I went for bigger hair to just balance myself out. At one stage, they must have thought I was a green giant or something trying to balance this out. I was like Jack and the Beanstalk.”
And, he was worried about the effect it was going to have on his performance. “You start worrying. You think to yourself if this is what I see, what do other people see?” he said. “I turned down work at the start of the year because I didn’t feel confident about getting photographed.
“There was one gig I did go to and I saw the photograph afterwards and thought, ‘step away from the fridge you fat b***h. I thought I was going to need to get my jaws wired.”
He can now joke that he was going to have to buy a king sized duvet or worse.
“I thought I was going to have to start shopping in camping shops and buy a four man tent to fit in.”
On his own initiative Robert began his battle with the bulge but could only achieve a relatively small gain, despite a stringent regime, including quitting drinking alcohol.
“I had lost a stone by myself up until March, and then I just plateaued. I couldn’t get another ounce of me. It just wasn’t budging,” he said.
With a local Slimming World at the end of the street Robert plucked up the courage to try it. “I walked past it every day and saw it and I said to myself I need to do something, because nothing else I’m doing is working,” he said. “It took me two weeks to actually build up the confidence to go in.”
“I phoned the girl and spoke to her and she told me to turn up on Monday. I put it off for three Mondays, making excuses, oh things to do, you can’t do it.
“The meeting was at half past five on a Monday. I left my house at five past five to walk to this meeting. I was walking around looking in the door, not going to go in, wasn’t going to go in, not going to go in, because it was a big step for me.”
“I was a nervous wreck. I thought, my goodness, what’s going on here.” Worried about perceptions about his performing as Titti Von Trump – and being recognised from his day job in a large department store in Belfast soon evaporated.
“The welcome I got was brilliant. The set-up was lovely, so they set you up with a wee pace for yourself and then she just talks to you, hands you the books. You read through it. You don’t feel like people are looking at you.”
And, his weight loss has been remarkable. “When I weighed myself in January, I was sixteen stone, ten pounds and I was a size eighteen to twenty,” Robert said.
“Now I am thirteen stone, seven and a half pounds. I recently bought four dresses that were size ten that I can fit in with a corset, so, I’m probably a size twelve.
“Now I am looking fabulous! I can wear what I want. I’m happier, I’m sleeping a lot better, I look a lot better. It’s just knock-on effects or just because if you look better, you feel better.” With confidence brimming Robert has more plans
“I’m looking into getting ordained so I can perform same-sex marriages,” he said. “And, I am contemplating writing a book, where I can talk about where the drag artist scene all started from.” And, after 30 years Robert can recall some of the more humorous incidents.
“I did this during the Troubles and that included getting searched by army guys and having a bag full of drag gear.
“At the army checkpoint they just took the bag and literally tipped it out on the street. There were dresses, and heels and all this kind of stuff in the middle of the street!”
But, he knows that it is the atmosphere at his Slimming World sessions that has given him the boost to keep going after his long weight loss journey.
“There is a real camaraderie” he said. “You go to groups afterwards, have a chat, talk about recipes, what they’ve cooked, what you’re going to cook. You get this taste night, where you bring something in, and you get try some as well.”
It’s affecting all parts of his eating, including the most important meal of the day. “For my breakfast I can have three slices of bacon, a tomato is a speed food, then you’ve got scrambled egg, and you’ve got mushrooms.”
His enthusiasm for being a drag artist remains high, especially after losing those three plus stone! I love it. Every night is different. Every night is different. I go out with a very open attitude to the night.”
And, despite his three decades as Titti, Robert is still doing things others wouldn’t contemplate
“I’m doing a thing tonight called “Drink, drag and draw in a few venues every month.
“I stand and pose, and the audiences comes and draw me in drag. I have had a coffin made for me, so I do it standing inside a coffin.”
Whether it is posing in a coffin, cabaret, calling out bingo or just strutting his new found form Robert has no intention of quitting as Titti Von Trump.
To find your nearest Slimming World group call 0344 897 8000 or log on to www.slimmingworld.co.uk