Far too many times over the next 12 to 15 years, it was brought to my attention that people who followed my exercise guidelines exactly but ignored their diet, their weight and their cigarette smoking had heart attacks at age 55.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Since becoming an alleged adult, I've always felt like I should exercise - or should at least want to exercise - and make a feeble attempt at health, thus staving off terrible things like the coronary heart disease and high cholesterol described to me in 1980s margarine commercials.
I put the heart attack down to 66 cigarettes a day.
I used to smoke cigarettes, ten a day, but gave up when I was 28. Now my vice is several cups of coffee a day, which isn't great if you're prone to weak bones as I am, as caffeine can leach calcium.
When I was pregnant. I exercised and was healthy, but it was also the first time since I was 14 that I wasn't on a diet.
When I was younger, I avoided exercise or anything strenuous. I didn't even enjoy walking. As I got older, I spent so much time marking books or sitting at a desk writing that there was no room for exercise - not that I would have bothered anyway.
I was exposed to the gym at about 28. I never had a huge love or appetite for it - it was just a means to an end.
I saw many people who had advanced heart disease and I was so frustrated because I knew if they just knew how to do the right thing, simple lifestyle and diet steps, that the entire trajectory of their life and health would have been different.
I don't care what size you are or how old you are - once you see the results brought to you by regular exercise, you'll wonder how you survived without it.
I battled with my weight as a teenager, partly because there wasn't the information or conversation about how to live a healthy lifestyle.
In the 20 long, hungry years between my late teens and late 30s I bought in to virtually every new diet and/or exercise regime that hoved into view, particularly at this most vulnerable time for those of us prone to poor body image - a new year.