Is it true that it is OK to accept that your shape and size will be different, as you get older? Or is it perfectly achievable to be the same shape/size in your 40s as you were in your 20s (and by achievable I don't mean an hour in the gym everyday!)?

Yes we are all genetically different but it is perfectly achievable with an hour every other day and careful food choices. An hour can invariably be made, and the benefits to self confidence and health are so great that clients always find themselves asking how they lived before, once the benefits have settled in.

4-5 sessions a week is best. Don't mug yourself off with the equivalent of walking the dog - go and get breathless and break a sweat.

Behave a little like an athlete and you will look a little like an athlete - so what ever you do above the threshold of nothing is beneficial.

An hour every other day combined with a very good diet, will take you far but 4-5 times a week is better and will make your body much more forgiving on your food choices.

The body was designed to exercise more or less everyday - with a variety of low, moderate, and high intensity work on different days.

My dad is 10 times healthier and in better shape now at 55 than he was at 30 with a better waistline and bigger smile. He swims 5 times a week for exercise directly after work and cycles for leisure on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Wrapping people up in cotton wool is wrong, people have to make time for exercise, the benefits in actual happiness will always more than reward you.

If you do this - you can have your happy weight and if you are really serious with no underlying health problem - probably your mid 20's waistline too!

It is important though not to think you can change 10 years of doing very little with 2 weeks of exercise.

Dan Newman