I've noticed my expanding waistline recently ( well, the missus has ) and I've started out small. Cut down on the beer and wine, have more fruit and veggies, less bread and cheese. Started a small exercise regime at home, 15 minutes in the morning and fifteen or so in the evening. Gently increase the times as you go on. Longer walks with the dogs at the weekend and on Sunday mornings I take a two hour bike ride. It's working like a treat at the moment

A good night's sleep as well.

I have a rowing machine which I use 4 times a week but alternate settings. If I'm tired I'll not feel like exercise but I make myself do at least 15 minutes on the machine. The IPod helps.

Forget about diets - just eat what you like but less of it and if you have to snack cut out the stodge and opt for the fruit.

Cutting down the booze intake is mandatory I find.

Eat less,(and eat slowly..put the fork down between mouthfuls..really) excercise moderately (walking will do) and cut down (out?) drinking.
Nothing else works.

...cut way back on booze. I managed five months without a drink in 2009 and lost two stone. I've more-or-less managed to maintain 14-stone weight ever since, though I put on half-a-stone in the latter half of 2009 and lost it in January by not drinking and eating sensibly (as ever).

I don't eat potatoes, bread, pasta or rice. Protein breakfast (omlette, OJ and black coffee); soup, crackers and hummus for lunch; fresh meat, chicken or fish with steamed veg or salad for dinner. Snacking is on fruit or nuts.

Exercise is sporadic, but always on wheels; cycling is fun and cool. I always go equipped with a pocket DAB radio tuned to Radio 4, or iPod and podcasts.

I've always been pretty healthy but last year (at 50) I had a bit of "an event" than required me to have some blood tests. The nurse that took the blood was amazed that I didn't know "the routine" as I'd never had one before. The upshot was that I need to increase my good cholestrol which I would never have known without the test (and it was completely unrelated to the reason for the test).
The doctor suggested drinking more (mainly red wine) and some brisk walks.
I now use half my lunch break up walking, have lost weight, and have become an audiobook fan into the bargain.

what I do is an hour-long group work out at the gym, a couple of times a week. Haven't actually lost weight yet, which is the objective, but it has stopped the rot.

I just substitute protein and fat for carbs. Lots of nuts, fruit, cheese, eggs, fish etc plus the odd bit of dark choc. Red wine tends to stop my weight from going down, but I manage to avoid exercise.

Good book by Barry Groves called 'Eat Fat, Get Thin' which Bryan Appleyard turned me onto in the Sunday Times months back. Sort of 'why everything you think you know about diet is codswallop'

I do a fair bit of exercise, less to get fit than to counteract my gluttonous habits, and over the years I've learned a few things:

1) Accept that it's going to take effort and sacrifice, however you go about it, because doing something will always be more effort than doing nothing.
2) Accept that it if your days are full now, time spent on exercise has to be instead of something else.
3) Seek ways of slipping in some exercise. Obvious ones are to take the stairs, walk faster, walk to the next bus stop. I have a regular trip taking my son to his football training. Instead of driving home, I leave the car there and run home, then run back to get him and drive home.
4) Enjoy the time when you can't be phoned, nagged or expected to do anything but exercise. Look on it as a rare liberty to spend some proper thinking time. This, combined with the effects of endorphins produced by exercise have led to me having some of my best ideas and insights during exercise.
5) Companionship is good, but don't allow it to become an excuse for less exercise. While training for a marathon I agreed to team up with someone for training runs, and ended up doing about 1/3 of what I should as a result of her being unwell or busy, me being unwell or busy and generally the challenge of coordinating two diaries. Find a way of exercising that doesn't rely on anyone else.
6) Keep it simple. The commitment is to do exercise, not to spend money on kit, fiddle about with kit, talk about your training regime. At this time of year gyms and swimming pools are full of the "New Year Resolution Crowd" in their brand new gear who go home having exercised little more than their credit cards and talking muscles.
7) Don't let "it's hardly worth going now" become an excuse. Doing a little bit is better than doing nothing at all.
8) Monitor your progress. Few things are more inevitable than the effects of training. If you keep walking/running.swimming/cycling/going to the gym you'll see real benefits with a few weeks.
9) Spread it out - a little daily is better than a lot once a week - and don't overdo it. The greatest benefit comes from having your body in the elevated state of metabolism that comes from regular exercise. To the initiated, the loudly-gasping guy in the gym who appears to be on some mission to punish himself just looks sad.
10) On the food side, develop an eye for the must-avoid foods and the must-avoid habits. Contrary to what supermarkets would have you believe "snacking" is not really a healthy family pursuit, "Big Eat" is not a convenience considerately provided by crips manfacturers, it's a way of selling you more food than you need for more money, and up-market crisps in beautifully designed packaging with clever names for "Cheese'n'Onion" are at least as unhealthy as the cheaper ones.
11) Once you're in the way of it, enjoy feeling great!

Best of luck with it.

On The Fence used the magic word - 'bike'. If it's at all practical, get one and use it for your local journeys.

(25 miles a day optional). But it really does work. I lost nearly two stone last year simply by walking everywhere. (Not sure how to embed photos on this thing, else I'd show you a before and after shot!). I also try and cycle a little every day, if only for 15 minutes; I seriously abused myself every which way as a young man (I turn 40 this year), and pretty much have no choice but to carry out these bits of daily exercise. Good luck!

PS: On a totally unrelated tip, anybody know what the song is that appears around 44mins (if you're watching on iPlayer?) into episode 6, series 2 of Being Human? It's bloomin'lovely.

Same thing hit me, although I'm still in the early 40's. I'd become a bit of a couch potato and my BMI had crept up to the upper limit, although I was still reasonably fit (according to my yearly health screening anyway !). My problem was finding the time and then when I had the time, the inclination, so it had to be something I would enjoy.

First thing, I stumbled across this on the internet....

http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html

Its a free pdf book and has an online weight tracking feature. It may not work for everyone, but there's some good concepts about losing and maintaining weight - from the perspective of an engineer, rather than a nutritionist - i.e. simply put calories in - calories consumed = weight gain.

Secondly, I started doing the Wii Fit game. It may not be the perfect exercise routine, but over the course of 6 months doing approx 30 minutes a day, I lost ~10kg. Now that's not all due to the exercise (which does break you out in a sweat so it must help) but I think partly due to the fact that you measure your weight everyday and so sub-conciously you cut down on the snacks etc etc. Anyway, like I sawy, it worked for me and I've continued the 30mins (it is good fun) on most days and have maintained my weight and just above my optimal BMI.....

Also great for weight loss. I've recently been made redundant, and (aside from having more time to spend on this 'ere Blog) it also means I'm not stuck in an office snacking away all day till I resemble Mr Creosote. Not that I endorse the 'Job Centre Plus Diet Plan' for everyone...

Most people who are overweight eat the wrong food too often (the portions are usually too big too) and do little or no excercise.

Take the time to make proper meals. Avoid *ding* meals, pies, crisps, fizzy drinks etc.

Many years ago I used to cycle to and from work but the roads are so busy nowadays I'm scared to take my bike out. On my days off I go for a walk. Coat, hat and gloves....plug in mp3 player, hit shuffle and I get 40 mins all to myself out in the fresh air. You don't have to do strenuous excercise.

My job entails walking a couple of miles every day and climbing ladders. If you are stuck at a desk all day; miss out the biscuits.

eat less,cut out snacking,move about more and be patient.

Here's what I did - it worked for me.

Keep a food diary for a week - detail everything including time of eating, and record it at the time of eating. No cheating. The big surprise for me when I did this was snacks - biscuits in the office, packets of crisps with a couple of beers at home (OK, 4 cans of Stella, not literally a couple, etc. I was eating more than I thought I was, and also drinking more alcohol by some way.

Start by making little changes - walk a little, skip some snacks, drink more water, make an effort to eat five portions of fruit & veg drink a little less alcohol - having two days in a row without a drink was more of an effort than I expected it would.

Walking is good, and I would echo the advice above about doing what you can and not worrying too much about "Am I going to the gym often enough". Every little helps.

Good luck with it - the first step is to acknowledge that you need to do something!

Have you heard of paradoxical intention?

If you try to eat less, you'll eat more. Try to eat as much as you can for a week.

This might not work, but Viktor Frankl reckoned it did.

So I bought some shoes from a good running shop in Pompey. And started doing a bit of running. Not much, because it was bloody hard work. But I built up the distance to doing four miles twice a week. And started using a gym after a while to do a bit of resistance work. Two stones came off my frame and I've remained pretty steady at 12.5 st ever since. I stopped smoking as well. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, no snacks at all apart from on Saturdays when I have a sticky bun at teatime and almost all meals are home-made. Lots of beer, though.

Uncle Lenny's tip: Avoid anything which contains HFCS - High-fructose Corn Syrup. Evil stuff. Very sweet, it consists of monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) which are absorbed hellishly fast and require the body to release enormous amounts of insulin to reduce blood-sugar levels. Insulin is, in itself, a growth hormone - the increased insulin levels make you fatter. HFCS is present in almost all processed foods in the US which is one of the big factors behind their obesity and diabetes epidemic. This is also the theory behind eating low GI foods and avoiding simple carbohydrates which do create blood sugar spikes.

I eat lots of fruit, lots of green veg (broc, cabbage, sprouts etc - love 'em) avoid junk food and sweeties, iced buns (I love 'em...), obviously fatty stuff, try to watch the grog and cycle to the station and them to work at the other end - 50 miles per week. I walk a lot (whenever possible really). I maintain a steady 13st 12 and am pushing 52. I could probably do with some of the other advice here on portion control - really ought to eat more at lunchtime and less in the evening probably. And I like a bacon sarnie and bangers and mash. But the cycling is the kicker - if I have a few pints or whatever I don't worry about it as I reckon all in all i'm doing OK. Oh and I cut the tabs out last summer.

Stands me.

Have always had the body of a catwalk model, unfortunately.

on an empty stomach

but Aqua Aerobics was a big help in reducing my blood pressure. I had tried to love the Gym but hated the treadmill and rowing machines whilst loving the weights. Result was I bulked out but didnt get any fitter. Thinking that I needed to do some cardio work I took up Aqua aerobics and absolutely love it. A 45 minute class has around 30 minutes of cardio work and 15 minutes of weights/resistance work. Add a few lengths of swimming afterwards and I feel really great. Beneficial but I need to do some more - problem I have is I like the unhealthy foods more than the healthy ones in most instances and since i quit smoking I eat more of them. Have promised myself a stict diet for 6 weeks starting saturday when I return from a short break in Amsterdam.

Walk as far and as often as possible. If your route to or from work involves trains or buses, get off a few stops early and walk. Go for long walks at the weekend, swing your arms, take deep breaths and take a look around at the world. Don't tell yourself the weather's not good enough. It doesn't need to be sunny or even dry. Unlike swimming or running it's something you already do, so it doesn't involve a significant lifestyle change, a load of expensive kit or extortionate gym fees.

Many thanks to all for taking the trouble to reply to this thread. There are some great ideas and experiences expressed that you don't tend to see in the traditional health outputs.

I'm not looking to organise a charity "word half marathon" or anything, but I am inspired to get fit for 50. Three months to go!

I'm determined to use walking, a sensible diet, a few months on the wagon and bit of wii fit activity to kick start the process. Now I've committed so publicly, I'll link to this thread after the event with my success story!

Thanks again to all.

Martin

That and a personal trainer has worked wonders for me. Can't knock drinking on the head, but you've got to have some pleasures in life.

ran a course on weight management that had a lot of useful information covering diet, exercise, healthy eating etc. I've got all the materials they used (handouts, Powerpoint slides etc) - happy to mail you a set if you want them.

If you smoke and are worried about your health give it up.
Easier said than done of course.

I am an ex-smoker.
I just stopped one day. Had enough. Did not want to die a stupid death.

For the record I do not feel fantastic and fabulous because I stopped, food does not taste better and I will not live forever but I do feel better about it.

That's all.

Cook what you eat yourself. Or as much of it as you can which is not easy in this modern world but worth it when you're able.

That means you know exactly what's in it (to a degree) and can be all self-righteous, controlling how much oil, fat etc is becoming part of you. Fresh unprocessed meat and veg is a real key to it. I've started baking cakes with my small daughter and am stunned at the mountains of sugar and butter that we use to make them. I eat my share of course but I know just exactly what I'm stuffing down so I know when to stop.

Make and eat your own soup. It's nicer than you could ever imagine and its liquid form helps make you feel fuller for longer so cutting back on those pangs between meals.

Start at 1 mile and work your way up, and you'll be doing a 5k, then a 10k, a half marathon and if you are really stupid (like me) a marathon.

If you had asked me 5 years ago that I would be running 2 marathons, let alone 1, I would have thought you were mad.
Set yourself a challenge, and try and meet it.

The feeling when you cross the marathon finish line is fantastic, after 6mths of training and early morning runs. The next day when you can't walk isn't so fantastic though.

Try and run outside, running on treadmills is dull, dull, dull.

Quite a few of you have successfully quit, judging by these posts. I really need to. I lost my father to lung cancer some years back and moronically, continue with around 10-20 growlers a day. (OK, more towards 20 than 10).

Can I ask what methods you found helpful? I did read the Allan Carr 'Easy Way' book, but it just didn't do it for me. Any tips from you lucky smoke-free types? Cheers

After many many failed new year resolutions and attempts at going cold turkey I finally devised my own program and got myself down from a 20 a day habit to zero, over a period of months. Before I tried this, all my attempts at quitting felt like trying to hold my breath - I knew I could do it for a while but I also knew I was doomed to fail eventually. My approach wouldn't work for all types of personalities, but if it rings any bells why not give it a try. For obvious reasons, I think we often over-dramatize the whole stopping thing. So my first decision was to not announce my intention to quit to anybody and to not throw my pack away. I also chose not to think of what I was doing as "giving up". I looked at my smoking habit and identified the cigarettes I enjoyed most during the course of a day and decided to work first at gradually eliminating all the others. My attitude was to just be happy if my smoking habit was moving in the right direction, i.e., decreasing. I wasn't prepared to put any more pressure on myself than that. Very slowly, over a period of months, I eliminated all the cigarettes I thought of as "non-essential" . This eventually brought my habit down to about seven a day, by which time the physical craving for nicotine was of course quite a bit weaker. Over another few months I smoked a maximum of seven, then gradually cut this down virtually one cigarette at a time. For months I was smoking two a day (after meals, I think). Family and friends had started to notice and were thinking I was a bit mad for not just stopping. Eventually I did stop, and I can assure you that giving up my now well established two-a-day habit felt a lot easier than going cold turkey from twenty.

I have been a sporadic gym user, and at times it's worked. But it is boring, for me at least. Even with the ipod. No-one yet seems to have talked about the s-word - ie sport. I gave up 5-a-side in my early thirties, but for the last decade have played tennis once or twice a week. I'm not going to argue the pros and cons of that particular sport, but any aerobic sport (so no darts or snooker don't count) you don't need a team for - I would add squash and badminton in here too touch a slightly different spot. It's the game, the play, the (mild) competition that keeps your brain active too, and that makes every week different. It may be just me but I never really looked forward to the gym, while look forward to tennis every week. I should add I'm lucky enough to live near a council covered tennis facility, but squash and badminton are pretty accessible.

I believe that the only way to get healthy and stay healthy is for your life style to change. Keeping a daily log of all the food you consume is key to eating healthy. If you keep a log you know exactly what you are putting into your body and won't forget. I have been using http://www.fitclick.com to monitor my calorie, fat and carbs. They have an awesome free calorie counter.

Here is the direct link - http://www.fitclick.com/calorie_counter