"You" can do it...

Singles

If you are focusing on your career, long hours at work can limit your time for getting fit. Finding a quick way to relax and de-stress after work may mean that you are a regular at the pub, followed by a take away. Or you may open up wine as soon as you get home from work and snack on crisps until your evening meal is ready. Lack of cooking skills or limited facilities can compound the problem, making you over reliant on convenience and fast foods.

What can you do?

• Adopt at least 1 daily healthy meal habit. e.g eat breakfast, a fortified cereal with skimmed milk is quick & easy.
• Shape up in your daily life. There are plenty of non-sporting ways to be active, including dancing, brisk walking & shopping-during which you can walk miles.
• Keep an alcohol diary to see how many units a week you are drinking. Try exercise to unwind instead.

Empty Nesters

You may have reached 50+ to find that middle-age spread has caught up with you. Are you eating the same quantity of food that you did when you were younger and more active? With age, calorie requirements decrease, so you need to eat less to stay the same weight. If you are in a job that requires a lot of travel or long hours at a desk or in meetings, you may be tempted by hospitality food and drink. Being away from your home may also mean that eating is "something to do" or a comfort.

Take steps to change:

• Cut down on less nutritious high-calorie food, such as biscuits and fried foods. Replace them with fruit, larger servings of vegetables, or wholegrain breads.
• Regard the third age as a time when you can be fitter than you have ever been. You have lots of time to gradually work up to being a fit pensioner!
• Write down how many hours a day you spend sitting (you may be surprised) and then find ways to halve it.

Busy mums

Motherhood is a time when some mothers gain weight. If you have very young children, disturbed nights may leave you lacking in energy. You may also be in the habit of snacking with the children or eating up their leftovers, which can cause your weight to creep up. If your life revolves around babies and children, you may find that you have little time left to prepare healthy meals or get physical. But now it's time to think about "YOU!"

• Learn to put your children's leftovers in the bin where they belong. Repeat after me, "I am not a dust bin..."
• Become more active with the family. Push the buggy at a brisk pace, chase your children round the park, or take them swimming (and swim along too)
• Make a deal with your partner, a friend, or neighbour to regularly take it in turns to do some physical activity while the other person looks after the children.