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" &amp;#039;I went to my first exercise class with Maxine Jones\u00A0by chance. I wanted to find something nearby, and she teaches a class five minutes from my flat. I turned up to a church hall full of all ages and body types. And the class was so much fun \u2013 like being in a nightclub \u2013 but without the booze, the flashing lights and the annoying men hitting on you! When the class ended, we were all asking for &amp;#039;just one more track&amp;#039;. It was absolutely brilliant \u2013 and only cost seven quid. It&amp;#039;s become the best seven quid I spend all week! I&amp;#039;ve always struggled with my weight. Like many women, I&amp;#039;ve spent my life yo-yo dieting. But diets do not work. When you come off a diet, you get fatter and more miserable than you were before. In the two years I&amp;#039;ve been doing classes with Maxine, I have\u00A0lost a lot of weight, though.\u00A0 I don&amp;#039;t weigh myself, but I&amp;#039;ve gone down three dress\u00A0sizes and started being able to wear the kind of clothes I want to, rather than dressing to cover\u00A0up my bottom.\u00A0 Anyone who&amp;#039;s lost weight knows that keeping it off is the toughest thing \u2013 but I&amp;#039;ve managed to do that as well. I&amp;#039;ve toned up, too. My arms were the one area I just couldn&amp;#039;t bear \u2013 and now, for the first time, I love them! For years throughout my 30s and 40s, I would hide my arms. Now\u00A0I happily wear sleeveless tops and show off my arms, which have totally changed and are so much more toned than they&amp;#039;ve ever been. I also have\u00A0a waist \u2013 again, for the first time! This just goes to show it&amp;#039;s never too late...  The funny thing is, I didn&amp;#039;t start the classes to lose weight. It&amp;#039;s more like a fantastic side effect. I started because I just wanted to feel the best I could be; to be healthy and well. Maxine has changed my life \u2013 I feel so lucky I found her! I&amp;#039;m evangelical about it. She really knows her stuff, so at the end of a class, you know you&amp;#039;ve worked hard. Her instruction will enthuse you; you&amp;#039;ll want to do it and push yourself. And, like me, you will find you get better and better. It doesn&amp;#039;t matter if you get it wrong or turn the wrong way as long as you&amp;#039;re doing the best you can. The class is all about toning everything up. But even though you&amp;#039;re working out every part of your body, you don&amp;#039;t notice that&amp;#039;s what you&amp;#039;re doing. Doing tricep dips in the gym can be miserable. But\u00A0if you&amp;#039;re dancing to Beyonce\u0301, you&amp;#039;re oblivious to what&amp;#039;s happening to your triceps. And it doesn&amp;#039;t matter what you look like \u2013 when you&amp;#039;re doing this class, in your head you feel like you actually are Beyonce\u0301! It&amp;#039;s the most\u00A0brilliant stress buster as well. After a class, I feel better physically and\u00A0mentally \u2013 so I really look forward to it. It&amp;#039;s the highlight of the day for me! We all know if you don&amp;#039;t enjoy exercise, you won&amp;#039;t stick to it. So we decided to create a workout you can do at home that&amp;#039;s all about having fun and enjoying it. We recorded our DVD Living to the Max, which is an aerobics class with a twist, in a real live class, so it&amp;#039;s the nearest thing to being part of a dance class as possible. Once you start, it&amp;#039;s incredible how quickly you notice the difference. And the more you do it, the better you&amp;#039;ll feel, plus you see your tummy flattening and your arms toning up. You&amp;#039;ll notice a difference in your body within a couple of months, but you&amp;#039;ll feel better, with increased energy, within a week or two. Part of getting fit is about adopting an eating plan for life. I don&amp;#039;t eat as much rubbish as I used to, and I&amp;#039;m more aware of the quality of the food I&amp;#039;m eating.\u00A0 Food is still one of the great joys in\u00A0life \u2013 but I eat in a healthy way, which is sustainable. I now eat smaller portions; less bread, no chocolate or big bags of crisps, or cola and sweeties in the cinema. That&amp;#039;s not to say I never have sweets \u2013 I do, but they&amp;#039;re an occasional treat. And at the weekend, I enjoy a glass or two \u2013 or three \u2013 of wine! My husband is a fantastic cook. He makes delicious curries from scratch and big Sunday roasts, which I love \u2013 you&amp;#039;ve got to live! These days I&amp;#039;m the fittest I&amp;#039;ve ever been. My husband and I just got back from a trek in Africa and I was up those hills, no problem at all; the guide asked me if I was really 56. And I can&amp;#039;t quite believe this, but I wore a bikini on TV last summer. I would never have done that before and it was scary \u2013 but also so empowering.&amp;#039; &amp;#039;Lorraine Living to the Max with Maxine Jones&amp;#039; (Universal Pictures UK) is out on DVD now and can be purchased from Amazon for \u00A312.99  \uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC\uFFFC "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.prima.co.uk/diet-and-health/exercise/a34868/lorraine-kelly-weight-loss/>