I’m a family doctor based in the UK and I’ve become concerned about 2 growing problems all around us – physical inactivity and expanding waistlines. In the last 10 years we have seen a 60% rise in the level of Type 2 diabetes. I’ve met many patients who are now experiencing significant health problems related to these two things.

Most of us know this already but the hard part is changing.

When I was a junior doctor in my mid twenties I was working long hours, commuting and feeling tired. I loved cake and still do now. I married a great cook and before long was starting to put weight on. I remember watching an episode of “Scrubs” where JD hits the age of 30 and decides to do a triathlon. That was my inspiration for entering my first 10K race. Over the last few years I’ve enjoyed working towards different challenges but the thing that really helped my fitness to improve was an “active buddy”. I really enjoyed regular runs with my friend Will. Meeting up early in the morning and exploring the trails around Sheffield together was refreshing and energising. Having to meet someone else was the key thing in getting me out of bed when I didn’t feel like going.

We had lots of adventure training together for a great event in Scotland called “70 wild miles”. When running became more difficult because of knee problems we did more swimming and made lots of progress. This year we really enjoyed the “Great North Swim” in Windermere.

Alongside enjoying exercise and training I’ve come to learn a bit more over the years about nutrition. A significant step for me was starting to understand more about the problem of high levels of sugar in our diet. I was involved in teaching at Sheffield Medical School and one of the subjects we covered was physical activity and obesity.

So I’ve tried to put together some of the things I’ve learned into a training programme and website. I hope you find it useful and that you can find an active buddy to share the journey with.