I have not always had a healthy lifestyle
I had periods of great debauchery in my twenties and thirties. I smoked, drank and did all of those sorts of things, but I always did exercise, too, as I am a restless person. I’m hopeless when I have to do things on my own, so I prefer making an appointment with a girlfriend. I wish I could be a loner running through the hills, it sounds great, but I’ll just make excuses. I didn’t exercise much in my twenties. But certainly by the time I hit my thirties, I was going to the gym three times a week.
I hated team sports at school
But throughout my childhood I lived in the countryside and spent hours outside running around, or walking with friends to school, so I’ve always been active but I have never been sporty.
I was a terror at school when it came to sports, especially in PE. When I compare the facilities to what most schools have now in the UK, I was considerably lucky, because they encouraged us to move our bodies. Though if you wanted to be lazy, you could get away with it.
We used to play this Irish version of hockey, and I was the one in the team who would run in the opposite direction to the ball, because it was such a hard ball and I was really scared of it.
On a few occasions I have played tennis, as I thought it was quite glamorous. I even went to a two-week immersion tennis camp in Jamaica, did lessons, and was still absolutely useless. I couldn’t serve and nobody wanted to play with me.
In the Eighties there used to be a lot of fad diets and people loved aerobics, but I didn’t fall prey to them, because I’d just start thinking about food all the time
But I’m 59 now, and have done every sort of exercise you can think of. I remember when I used to go to a step class with my sister in the Nineties, it was underneath the Westway in London at the Portobello Studios. My sister is a very good dancer and has coordination, but I was hopeless. So I didn’t do that for very long.
I’ve tried aerobics classes too. But I don’t really like getting hot and sweaty in a crowded room. My best friend took me to this spin class in a basement once, where all the lights were off, apart from colourful flashing lights at 7am in the morning. It’s not my cup of tea.
From youth, I think it’s important we start preaching body positivity
None of us is perfect, but we are all as perfect as we are ever going to be. I have focused on being strong in my life and in my body. I think that’s what helped get me through the cusp of osteopenia, having healthy bones. The entire lifecycle of a woman’s body is important, not just periods.
Cracking the Menopause by Mariella Frostrup and Alice Smellie is available to buy in paperback next month (Bluebird, £9.99)
