Making exercise a habit is a journey, not a destination. It’s something you have to work at every day ..... some days you’ll fit it in, some days you won’t. The next time you miss a session, don’t beat yourself up about it, learn from it instead. The only difference between a person who fails and a person who succeeds comes down to never giving up.

If you feel overwhelmed by the amount of exercise you feel you should be doing, don’t panic. If at present you don’t do much exercise you can still achieve health benefits from breaking up thirty minutes of exercise a day into 10 minute slots split up during the course of the day. No matter how long it is since you exercised, start small, even if it’s a ten minute walk after dinner or before work. Remember little and often is better than not at all

* In the morning, you could spend five minutes walking briskly to get a newspaper, walk your dog or the children to the bus stop; run up the stairs once or twice before jumping in the shower or do five minutes skipping with an imaginary rope.

* At lunchtime, you could power walk round the block for ten minutes or jog round the park; walk briskly rather than dawdle round a shopping centre; view chores round the house as opportunities to do some exercise, hovering, ironing, cleaning,; catch up on the gardening (150 calories in ten minutes)anything that gets you going. Take the stairs two at a time or step up the pace.

* In the evening, you could do an exercise DVD for 10 minutes before watching TV, or stick your favourite music on and dance to your heart’s content.

The most important thing is to vary and enjoy your exercise because if you don’t you won’t keep it up. Be realistic when setting goals, if you aim too high you might end up being disappointed and disheartened if you don’t stick to them. Setting simple, attainable goals keeps your motivation high. Remember instant results are something that we all crave but there are no quick fixes when it comes to getting and staying in shape.