Fitness is not all about weight however generally if you are fit and healthy you will find your weight is at a stable range. But there are people who are overweight and still fit. Fitness requires a continued regiment of exercise and when you combine this with a healthy eating plan you will find that you will be in great shape in no time.

There are many problems with fitness programs the biggest being that many people cannot or will not allow the time to be able to concentrate on their fitness. Women who are nearing or over 40 are especially susceptible to issues regarding weight and fitness. For me the key to being fit meant that I needed to find some form of exercise that I didn’t really class as too strenuous and I could do with my friends so that the boredom did not creep in. It did mean I was getting up early in the morning which is not my favorite thing but I always felt refreshed and rejuvenated afterwards.

So for the rest of you look for something to do that will increase your energy and leave you feeling fresh and rejuvenated afterwards. I am not talking about fresh in the hygiene sense of the word as you will always have a lingering after glow from any exercise that will not go away without a shower. What you are searching for however is a lingering afterglow that courses through your whole body leaving you facing the day with a fresh perspective rather than just crawling out of bed wishing you could sleep longer and carrying on with your normal daily routines.

Some great examples are a hike, swimming, jogging if you feel up to it but the best and easiest, at least for me, is walking. Find a couple of friends and make sure they are willing to push you and you are willing to push them. You need more than one walking partner otherwise you will find you will eventually convince each other to take that lie in when what you need is the third friend to convince you both you are wrong and to get out of bed and go.

I prefer to do my walking in the mornings, even though I am not a morning person. The reason is that I really do feel refreshed afterwards. I find I have more energy to face the day and get a lot more accomplished on the days that I do go walking than the days where I just carry on with my normal "sleep as much as I can" routine. You also have more time even though the start is earlier you feel awake and ready much earlier in the day than you do when you start late. At least this is how it is for me.

At the same time as you are embarking on your fitness attempts make sure that you cut down on the calories you are taking on and you should see rather quickly benefits to the way your clothes are fitting as well as the way that you feel personally. When you get comments from people asking you if you have lost weight then you really know you are getting somewhere. But remember that you are doing this for your health.

A fitness routine is not about pleasing everyone else, it is about pleasing yourself and the things that you want to achieve. If you feel you are losing weight and getting fit to get compliments from others you will probably find that at the sign of the first compliment you start to get lazy in your efforts and you are right back where you started off sleeping in and not being fit at all. Grab those friends and get out there!