Jane Fonda I ain't.....by Heather

I think there was a time when I equated losing weight and feeling great with sweat- for hours  at a stretch.

I remember, within a few weeks of giving birth to my eldest, some 26 years ago - getting down with Jane Fonda, complete with ankle warmers and neon lycra - and sweated and heaved myself in front of the video recorder! It was the most important thing - to banish that flabby mid section.

Looking back, I don't regret it necessarily, but I do wish I had spent more time just being with my daughter - they don't stay little for all that long - and now those moments are gone forever. But this was the eighties -and, besides the shoulder pads - it was all about the burn.

These days, I really don't want to feel the burn - in fact, I'm busy, and I want to spend my time smelling the roses, quite literally in most cases - and my limited time means that how I utilise my spare time is paramount - and I certainly don't have hours to spare for long exercise routines.

Katy and I disagree on the usefulness of exercise with regard to weight loss.

To keep this post short - my view is that I couldn't do enough exercise in a day to counteract the effects of eating the wrong things. And I don't have enough of a life left to squander it doing stuff that I really don't enjoy. So I don't intend to.

My exercise routine is something to be enjoyed - there is no denying the health benefit to exercise, and the benefit to your overall well being - I just don't feel that at my age it is enough for real and sustained weight loss.
Its also worth saying, that in the last 26 years - I haven't really stuck to an exercise routine - I go in fits and starts - and knowing this, it would be silly to think I was suddenly, and realistically going to go against known form and start a regime that was exerting enough to make a difference to my weight for ever more.

Better was to take the benefits of that which I enjoyed - and do that - enjoy it. Instead of punishing myself, by making myself endure something I plainly didn't enjoy at all.

To this end - you will find me following Seane Corn in yoga practice; and you will too find me heaving around horse manure on my allottment - all of which is part of my life - something I will describe with all the right adjectives - joy being one of them.

Because my mental health is every bit as important to me as my physical health and being able to combine these elements is a complete win win.

yes I looked just like this!