NEW research has revealed how work pressure is adversely influencing our eating habits.

It found that workers begin Monday mornings full of good intentions for the week ahead but as stress and exhaustion rise throughout the week our healthy diets fly out of the window.

The survey of UK worker's eating habits revealed a clear "indulgence curve" with more than 44% of workers confessing to a decline in their attitude to healthy eating as the working week progresses.

IT seems everyone who exercises is looking for the best ab-exercise routine for developing flat, tight abdominal muscles.

Every year there are dozens of a new exercises, fitness classes, products, gadgets or routines claiming to sculpt and strengthen the abdominal muscles like none other.

And while some of these may offer a new approach to working the abs, most are ineffective and some may increase your risk of injury.

DEMOTIVATED, depressed and decidedly down?

Join the club. It would seen that winter is officially here.

The least favoured of the four seasons, the winter months bring with them darker days, torrential downpours, and freezing winds that force even the most committed of exercisers indoors seeking a warming bowl of apple crumble and custard.

A MAJOR study into the state of Liverpool's health is published today - and the report paints a sorry picture.

The Health is Wealth Commission found that only one in ten people in the city are active and life expectancy is more than three years less than the national average - seven years less than in the South East.

One solution to the problem, according to the experts, is to work with urban planners to design a city that encourages people to get active, to walk or cycle instead of driving around in their cars and to spend time out enjoying open spaces.

Similarly Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, says urban designers have created environments that encourage obesity by planning public spaces around automobiles.

SMOKING and exercise are just not compatible. But lets be honest - smoking and life are just not compatible either.

In this day and age it still astounds me how many people smoke.

But perhaps what is more shocking is given the harsh facts about the impact of smoking on a person’s health that smokers are so defensive about their dirty habit.

THE NHS has some new advice for people struggling to schedule a fitness routine into their daily lives - a workout between the sheets.

Yes according to the NHS Direct website, Sexercise can lower the risk of heart attacks and helps people live longer.

Forget hitting the road in your trainers and instead opt for a spot of horizontal jogging people!

BAD news this week everyone with revelations that some delicious and chocolaty hot drinks contain the same amount of calories as a plate of steak and chips!

(How is life fair?)

But after the devastation that some of my favourite drinks are laden with hidden fat and calories I thought about just how many of my daily calories are consumed by drinking.

Nutritionists say that many dieters make the mistake of ignoring the calories they have drunk.

They are doing everything else right but are still not losing weight.

But when you realise that drinking that Starbucks Frappuccino is drinking three cheeseburgers worth of calories - then it becomes crystal clear where the problem lies.

(I know - it is very depressing! Even smoothies - yes smoothies- can be laden with calories).

Most people would think it was perfectly acceptable to have two Frappuccinos throughout the course of the day but would never dream of eating six cheeseburgers!

But a calorie is a calorie whether it comes from lettuce leaves, pizza or hot chocolate.

And it is only by monitoring our calorie intake to create a deficit that we can effectively lose weight.

Now I for one am not willing to give up the odd Starbucks hot chocolate but it is important that we all do recognise their calorific content.

For example if a drink has 290 calories in it then compare it to a small order of french fries from McDonald’s.

How many of those would you think it was acceptable to consume in a day/week?

It is really just about being aware about what you actually are putting in your body.

(At this point I really should go on to discuss the hidden calories contained in alcohol - but I am already depressed enough! In fact I think I might go and get myself a nice chilled glass of Rose to console myself! HA!)

AS sure is eggs is eggs, along with the New Year’s resolutions come the celebrity fitness videos!

And the onslaught of the newly honed and toned has-been soap stars’ revolutionary workout regime has well and truly started.

God help us all!

Eat a decent breakfast and lunch. Don’t starve yourself until the big meal arrives.

KEEP EXERCISING - this will suppress your appetite, boost your metabolism and make you feel less like bingeing.

Drink two or three glasses of water before any big meal begins.

Avoid conflict or emotion that can stress you out to the point where you take solace in food.

Eat 3/4 of the food on your plate and don’t overload it.

Reduce your intake by refusing seconds Remember that you can always enjoy leftovers the next day. Do not eat past the point where you feel full.

Forgive yourself if you do overeat. One large meal is not a problem - many large meals and continuous bingeing is.

Keep a food diary of what you eat. Remember that one pound is equal to 3,500 calories.

Remember alcohol is packed with calories. Chose spirits with low calorie mixers as an alternative.

TIPS:

A 3.5 oz serving of roasted turkey breast has 115 calories; a 3.5 oz. piece of roasted dark meat with skin has 221 calories; a 3.5 oz. piece of roasted dark meat without skin has 187 calories.

A piece of apple pie (an 1/8 of the pie) has 347 calories.

A 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes has 111 calories.

A 1/2 cup of bread stuffing has 198 calories.

OVER the last two weeks I have sat down to write this blog many times.

But each time I have been distracted by either another box of festive chocolates being opened in the office, the anxiety of getting out and beating the Christmas rush and the nagging reminder that those Christmas cards have still not been written - not even the one that needs sending to Portugal! Oh heck!

Yet at the same time my instructor friends and I have been lamenting the drop in numbers in our classes as all those participants who have worked so tirelessly throughout the year jack it all in to celebrate their fitness gains by sitting on their backsides and stuffing their faces with junk.

Every year the same sorry cycle presents itself across every health club across the entire country.

Come December the gym and studio are desolate - occupied solely by a few die-hard exercisers and weary instructors who are faced with teaching their usually packed class to just three members.

But I will bet my bottom dollar that come January those classes will be rammed.

Old members full of New Year resolutions stand lycra clad shoulder-to-shoulder with new exercisers who have been treated to a gym membership as a Christmas present.

The latter group tend to fall by the wayside by say the end of February - bar but a few.

The others will continue on that annual fitness treadmill to lose that Christmas bulge until their seasonal “let it all go to pot� abandonment kicks in again late Novermber/early December.

I began wondering why we let this happen.

Why a routine that we have stuck too throughout 11months of the year goes out of the window as soon as the mince pies, Christmas pudding and endless boxes of chocolate come in.

It makes me feel sad that exercise is not more an integral part of everyone’s daily life. It is something that is viewed as a chore - as the first thing that is expendable when we are busy or
stressed.

And then I thought about how complicated we sometimes make this job of exercise.

By joining gyms, searching for weight loss short cuts provided by unscrupulous marketers and being led astray by every new all singing all dancing fitness regime - are we trying to be too clever by half?

Bamboozled by all the above, is it any wonder that we look to the excuse of Christmas to take a break from exercise?

Getting and staying fit doesn’t have to be complicated, time consuming or difficult.

All you have to do is follow some simple basics - eat sensibly, keep active - and there you have it.

Sure enjoy Christmas and all the festive fayre that comes with it.

But keep active at the same time and rather than end up as the Christmas Pudding, you will face 2008 fit, fresh and feeling as fabulous as ever.