Exercise

Current UK Government guidelines suggest that we should all exercise for 20-30 minutes three times a week. Not only will exercise build muscles, burn calories and tone the body it will actually slightly raise your metabolism for the next 24 hours! You need to do a form of exercise that gets your heart beating faster, gets your sweaty and leaves you slightly out of breath (you should still be able to hold a conversation though. If you are so out of breath you cannot speak you must lower the intensity of your exercise).

Choose something you enjoy! Vary your exercise - don't get stuck in a routine or you'll become bored and resent it. If you can't afford to go to the gym or go swimming go for a brisk walk, or mow the lawn with a push mower or run up and down the stairs.

Vary aerobic exercise with weight training. One pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day (even when not doing anything!) compared to one pound of fat which only burns 3-5 calories a day! You don't have to be a member of a gym to use weights. Buy free, hand held weights from a sports shop or use cans of food! We'll soon be putting free weight exercises on this site but in the meantime by a slimming or fitness magazine (e.g Rosemary Conley or 'Slimming') and use the exercises they publish.

If you are embarrassed about exercising in public get hold of one of the many excellent exercise videos available and exercise in the comfort of your own home.

This site was featured in Woman's Own Diet Special™ Magazine as one of the Top Ten Diet Sites!