Now that all my girls have gone their various ways only my photo remains. Apparently they didn't like their photos being on the web site in the fist place but didn't complain as I was so enthusiastic about it. Sorry girls - I'll try to make it up to you by trying to be more sensitive in the future - keep in touch though.
I'm going to replace this page with comprehensive advice about keeping healthy & fit so watch this space if you're interested in that kind of thing . . . it's what keeps me sane these days . . . that and Salsa dancing - more about that soon.
Meanwhile, here's some health and fitness advice to get you going:
Use it or lose it - your body is meant to be used in certain ways - find out what those ways are and get on with it instead of just lying around and wondering why you are feeling lethargic all the time.
If you're thinking of dieting don't - by all means look at what you eat and make it more balanced but don't go on a low-anything diet. If you go on a low fat your are on high protein or high carbohydrate or both - if you go on a high protein your are on low carbohydrate or low fat or both - and so on. You need a balanced diet, the same amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat at every meal. Because fat has twice the calories that means percentage proportions of 40-40-20. Because saturated fat is bad for you the 20 should be nearer 10 or less (low fat) but make up the difference with good fat - ie Olive Oil - Extra Virgin naturally. More about what is often called The Zone Diet later - meanwhile have a look at this list of references. Don't get too worried about the details of this diet such as counting blocks - eat about twice as much protein as you think is equivalent to the carbohydrate you have in a low fat meal and then spray on some olive oil to taste. Each person's balance is different anyway so you have to find your own way to some extent. It's not rocket science - just common sense and you'll know you're getting it right when you jump out of bed in the morning in a good mood and remain energetic all day without trying. You might even lose weight but that comes second though it's a lot easier when you're feeling energetic!
If you need to get smaller look at your input AND output - many factors may affect your rate of metabolism and you can tell everybody that you've got a low one all your life if you like but there's very little you can do about it and nobody believes you anyway. What you can do something about is how many calories you use up and increasing that is far less boring than decreasing the other. More about how to increase your output without hurting yourself later but while you are waiting go walking every day for at least half an hour and go swimming as much as you can. Never mind what you think people are saying about you - just keep saying to yourself that they won't be saying it for much longer and note Story1 below.
Don't use a weighing machine use a tape measure - you are trying to get smaller not lighter! You can go up and down during the day by as much as 7lbs and it's mostly water that's causing the variation. Muscle weighs a lot more than fat (volume for volume) so when you exercise you may increase in weight as you get smaller. So don't weight it - measure it - keep that old pair of jeans around to try on from time to time - if you can get into them you are the size you want to be no matter what your weight is.
Give up food that doesn't agree with you - for example, if you are feeling bloated all the time you are almost certainly having an adverse reaction to one or more of the foods your are eating. How do you know which food is causing the problem - it's almost certainly the one you eat the most. In my case it was bread which I have now given up completely. I find I can eat unleavened varieties of bread such as Tortillas so maybe it is the raising agents that cause the problem for me. Another food I have given up is red meat because it seems to cause my joints to stiffen. I have given up milk too but that doesn't really count as a food as adults don't have the required enzymes to digest it (the required enzymes were in the milk before the pasturisation process destroyed them of course). You will have to find the foods that cause you a problem and remove them from your diet completely. You can go back to them occasionally as absence from the diet for a while will decrease your adverse reaction but only occasionally.
Drink at least 2 litres of fluid a day - and that's if you don't exercise so double it if your doing a lot otherwise you will become dehydrated which can cause all kinds of problems including headaches, feeling lethargic and looking older.
Eat at least one live yogurt a day - your digestive system benefits from the live cultures that live yogurt contains and it counteracts Candida Albicans which can quietly fill up your digestive tract and make you look and feel bloated all the time - not just after meals. (Most milk products are already digested so the comment above about the absence of enzymes is not applicable.)
Eat plenty of fruit - you know it's good for you.
Don't add sugar or salt to your diet - you don't need it - you really don't!
Take Amino Acid supplements - everything important in your body is made of protein which is built up from amino acids and your digestive system may not be able to provide you with all the ones you need as you get older. Holland&Barrett do a good one called Amino 1000 (1500 if you have a big mouth) - look out for the 50% off offers. They say you need calcium for you bones but first you need amino acids as bones are mainly comprised of protein. Calcium just makes bones harder and most people get quite enough in a normal diet to do that.
Don't smoke - unless you like the idea of smelling (and tasting) like an ashtray. I won't say a word about the health disadvantages because you know those already don't you! But did you know it eventually makes you look pale and older because of the affect of nicotine on the blood, veins and skin?
Story1: When a man is 20 he worries about what people are thinking about him. When a man is 40 he tells himself he doesn't give a damn what people are thinking about him. When a man is 60 he realises that people never gave a damn in the first place - they were too busy thinking about themselves!
I used the he-word because I hate saying he/she but I'm sure it applies to everybody.