It’s not the best start for a new year of 30-day-or-thereabouts challenges to have given up halfway through the month, is it? Actually, it wasn’t so much giving up as realising it wasn’t working. Therefore I’m refraining from using the word fail because even though I didn’t do a full month like I hoped, I learnt a lot along the way. This month, I was supposed to be following a Les Mills challenge schedule, a featured workout each day that is backed by a scientific plan and reason for the order, duration and difficulty.

We’re halfway through January now so those who were going to set resolutions have no doubt done so by now. If anyone is still looking for something to get more active and get out there, the Walk 1000 Miles initiative by Country Walking magazine caught my eye. It’s a challenge to do exactly what it says on the tin, although really the goal isn’t necessarily the target but really to get outside and get more steps in than you have before.

To kick off the new year, my first challenge is a health and fitness related one - to stick to a Les Mills challenge schedule. I was in two minds about this because, you know, the new year resolution to keep fit and change your life and be the absolute epitome of health is such a cliché and I am fully aware of that. But when I sat down and thought about it, the timing is perfect.

When it comes to getting up and about and trying to exercise, I tend to flit from one thing to another. Nothing really captures my attention, except swimming. I do not like to go to the local swimming pool because (and this is probably another of my weird traits) there is no way of seeing how busy it is before you go in, and yet I don’t want there to be any kind of window with outsiders peering in once you get in the water.

Each day, 1 in 4 Americans visits a fast food restaurant. In 1972, we spent 3 billion a year on fast food - today we spend more than 110 billion. McDonald’s feeds more than 46 million people a day - that’s more than the entire population of Spain. French Fries are the most eaten vegetable in America. You would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off a Super Sized Coke, fries and Big Mac.