One of the Governments ‘hot topics’ at the moment is obesity, and even celebrity chefs are jumping on the bandwagon trying to get us and our children to eat more healthily. However, today’s ‘big news’ is that we are to get fit rather than diet … is this easier said than done, and what are our fears?

How may of us go to the gym? Well … I can honestly put my hand up and say ‘yes!’ as I do go regularly. What inspired me? Well, I hit my mid-thirties and decided that I had to take the bull by the horns, get off my growing butt and start to ‘preserve’ what I had. So one day I plucked up the courage and joined … a women-only gym!!!

I decided on a women-only gym because I just felt so much more comfortable. Working out in front of men put the fear of God into me as there's a different dynamic, you feel like you are being checked out, making you feel more insecure so there was just no way I was gonna wobble my cellulite in the company of such self obsessed ‘sex gods’!!! Am I the only one to feel this way? Apparently not!!! Women only gyms seem to be opening all over the place. They appeal to women who want the benefits of exercise, but are intimidated or just uncomfortable in the traditional, unisex gyms, because they feel they have to be stick-thin, wear posy outfits and that they will be bitched about. Whereas the gym I attend has recruited a down to earth instructor, all the members are just average - like you or I - who wear pretty much anything that is comfy and who can have a good old sweaty workout without feeling oggled!! Bliss!!!

And then there is the other issues of safety, privacy and intimidation - the fear of not fitting into the unisex gym environment, along with the fear of not being able to do what an instructor (male or female) asks them - this prevents so many women from even walking into a gym.

Does this mean I am a crazed sexist? Should all gyms not be unisex? Not at all … It's ok for women to have women-only facilities if we want them. Just as it should be ok for men to have men-only facilities if they that want them - not all men are comfortable working out in front of women and have the same issues as us. However, female-only facilities are accepted by most people and protected by the law, while male-only facilities are frowned upon by society and the courts.

So to all these guys who knock our gyms, I guess that they are just jealous!!! Would they prefer us to look gorgeous and fit, or not go to the gym at all. I for one am thankful for the facility near me!!

“I mean, I like to flirt as much as the next girl, but when I'm in my grotty gym clothes and all sweaty, I don't look or feel sexy. I'd rather work up a sweat with a guy in private ...”