I'm 56 years old, and I've never been on a diet. Not one. No calorie counting, no portion scales, no salad-and-boiled-chicken weeks. Not because I'm more disciplined than you - if anything, I think I have less willpower than most people. I just never got on that train in the first place.

So when people my age ask me what my secret is, they're usually disappointed by the answer. I don't have a diet. I have movement. I go to the gym two or three times a week, I choose daily activities that keep me on my feet, and I eat what I enjoy - without turning every meal into a calculation.

I'm not in perfect shape, and I won't pretend I am. I'm in decent shape for 56, with one thing I haven't cracked yet: a bit of a belly. That's the honest picture.

I write here for one reason - to show that staying in shape after 50 doesn't have to mean suffering through food rules. If that sounds like a life you'd actually want to live, you're in the right place.