Well here I am, four weeks after starting a very simple fitness regime. The Air Walker that I purchased via internet auction, arrived and is good value for money but not exactly great condition. Anyway it meets the needs of having something to start with. If only I can get rid of the squeak – argh.

My first trial was to see if I could do 5 minutes and then 1 more. So for the first 3 days I got on in the morning and gave it all I've got for 6 minutes. Day four I stepped up to 7 minutes, and then I went away for days 7-11, so back at it on day 12. Every 3-4 days I add another minute - presently I am plateaued at 11 minutes.

I have worked out that if you use the machine as suggested – legs fairly straight in a manner as if you were walking slowly that the impact is very low, and it brings a smile to my face to say – too low for me. Its when you start to walk faster or vary your stance that you start to exercise beyond what you may do walking during the course of a normal day.

I prefer to bend my knees and lean into the handles of the Air Walker and then I 'feel the burn' in my triceps, quads and calves.

I am able to keep normal breathing throughout and my body truly feels as if all its red blood cells have been oxygenated and are alive for a short while after I have finished.

I have yet to see any great benefit to my weight though with it keeping steadily at a number that, for me, is 25% higher than what I was aiming for when I first started my loosing weight slowly campaign.

I can't fathom it out. I have now used 5 'First Response' pregnancy tests and a 'Clearblue' and they all come up negative. I am reminded that with my second pregnancy 3 home pregnancy tests and one blood test all came up negative before the 2nd blood test confirmed that pregnancy.

Hmmm...so I am not pregnant just fat? The abdominal shape doesn't seem to fit the 'fat' profile and why would all this extra weight just stick to me over a course of a couple of months. Its like someone has taken huge globs of fat and aimed them at the middle of my body as one would do in paint-ball, but these don't wash off. Does middle age spread really happen that dramatically? If so, someone should have warned me. This is not one of those pleasant surprises that society should keep secret.

In fact society in the form of the beach-goers I have seen over the long weekend away, seem to confirm that this pregnant-like tummy is the norm for women my age, not the exception. Not nice.

I am glad that at least I have a vehicle for exercising off the repulsion I have of my body shape and that may give me a hope of working towards a more lithe figure that I can be proud of once again.

Oh, and in my travels on the auction site, I came across a treadmill with some fabulous features that presently doesn't work, that we fetched and I have high expectations that DH will be able to fix.

Initially it looked as if the motor was totally stuffed and its an odd wattage that we had no way of testing, but some very generous technicians on a DIY website are helping us work through the diagnostics. Onyx has managed to get the motor to turn over so its back to diagnosing the controller. Fingers crossed everything works out for good, as I actually like the mechanics of the treadmill and can see all of us using it.

Its not as if the Air Walker will be defunct either as I have a girlfriend that was the one who recommended them to me and will gladly receive it as a hand-me-down or perhaps the children will be allowed to let themselves loose on the Air Walker and leave the treadmill alone? I haven't quite decided as that is like counting your chickens before they are hatched.