The Health Bliss

I am 50 years old and I'm the same size today as I was when I was 15. People say to me 'You're so lucky, you never put on any weight' as if I possess magic genes that prevent me from putting on weight.

I'm just like anyone else. If I eat more than I need I put on weight, the same as anyone else. If I don't take any exercise my weight will increase, just the same as it does for anyone else. So my trick, whcih isn't really a trick at all, is to only consume as much as I need.

A key aspect of the way that I maintain my weight is exercise. I don't go to the gym, I don't play any form of sports, I don't go swimming and I don't jog, so how to I maintain my youthful physique and remain fit and healthy? I use a technique I call passive keep fit.

What is 'passive keep fit' you ask? Passive keep fit, for me, means getting exercise while going about my daily business. For example, rather than drive to the local shops to pick up a newspaper I will walk. And when I walk I walk fast so that I get a little breathless. Driving to and from the shop will just make you fatter and lazier but my visits to the shop burn off calories and help me keep in shape.

I use the same approach when I encounter lifts in buildings. I will always use the stairs and will often run up two stairs at a time to burn even more calories. I also try to get some upper body exercise when sat in front of my computer at work by lifting myself 10 or 20 times on my arm rests a few time every day.

Also, when I'm relaxing in front of the TV in the evening I break this up with a few abdominal scrunches (is that what they are called). This has helped me keep my six pack and flat stomach, much envied by my friends and workmates.

I always try to stick ot a healthy diet by eating and drinking sensibly. I don't eat any junk food and when I do it is a very special treat. I actually get a lot more pleasure from resisting the temptation than I do from giving in. I have developed a habit of visualising all that I have consumed in a day as if it was spread out on a table in front of me. My visualisation technique highlights whether I've had my five portions of fruit and veg in a day and quickly tells me if my days consumption has been less than ideal.

So I don't count calories, I don't work out in a gym and I don't play sports. Yet I am the slimmest and fittest 50 year old man that I know, and I still look OK in my Quiksilver board shorts and my cool Rip Curl T-Shirts - which can't be bad for a many of my age.