It’s an old Chinese proverb.  But I’m sure you know that.  Similar, I think, to the modern phrase – “You gotta start somewhere!”  And you do you know.

The phrase hit me again after a rather unpleasant chat with my doctor.  She told me in no uncertain terms that I had to lose weight, lower cholesterol, drop the predilection for gin with full fat tonic or I was on the road to perdition.  Well lifelong medication anyhow.

I noted the terrifying visions for my future that were laid out in front of me and decided to do something about them.

My diet has never been a major issue except, I suppose, in the quantities I consume.  That being said my real problem is exercise.  I’ve never really enjoyed it and find it very tough to get motivated.

Yes, I’ve tried the gym (up to and including a personal trainer) and power walking.  But time and real-life always seem to get in the way.

So what am I doing?   Well, the first thing was to dig out my old exercise bike (yes I’ve used that before as well) and once I got it working again I am trying to ride for 10 miles each day.

The other thing I’m doing is using a pedometer.  What I hear you cry is that? Well, it is a small red object  (see the picture illustrating this blog post)  which I wear around my neck which records how far I’ve walked each day.  It can calibrate (calculate) this in a number of different ways including distance, number of steps taken , calories burnt and time taken.

So according to the UK’s NHS site we should all be aiming to walk around 10,000 steps each day at least.  In fact if you work behind a desk (as I do) this is not as easy as I had thought  a couple of weeks ago.  It is damned difficult to combine with a job and having children.

So what is the point of this post?

Well actually I’d like your help please.  I’m really interested in the experiences of our readers who have had to take up exercise in middle age.  I’m thinking in terms of some of the following questions:-

1) What fitness programme do you use and how often do you use it?

2) Do you use any gadgets like pedometers to help?  If so how do they work for you?  Oh, and which one would you recommend?

3) How do you keep motivated to exercise over time?

4) Do you have a particular medical condition which means that you need to exercise more?

5) Any general bits of advice for me and our readers.

Obviously these are just some broad questions.  If you have anything you would like to share in the comments box below that would be brilliant.

 

Many thanks