Aside from all the well established and accepted benefits of a physically active lifestyle in warding off a whole plethora of medical ills – could John have a point when it comes to simply looking at the effect of exercise on weight loss? Here's my take on it.

The mood boost generated by exercise also boosts commitment and resolve. It's well known that in order to successfully achieve any goal, you must remain positive and feel as good as you can as often as you can. It's so much easier to stay motivated if you feel excited and are generally looking forward to your day. You can learn to be a happy person. Decide to be happy from now on. Very few downbeat souls manage to change any thing in their life. Struggle does not give you results.

Interestingly, John hates exercise. So of course it's a chore. It's imperative to find something we actually like doing – even just a little bit at the beginning because oftentimes as you become more competent, you'll get to like it a whole lot more. If you dread each session then I guess it's easier to reach for the calorie laden foods afterwards in a rebellion. Well, don't you deserve a little reward after going through all that? If this sounds like you then not only is your exercise programme entirely out of kilter – so is your mindset.

Contrary to John's experience of increased post exercise hunger, I find that the huge majority of people experience a drop in appetite after an exercise session – however, I do hold my hands up when it comes to swimming which for some reason invariably makes us ravenous! John says " After we exercise, we often crave sugary calories like those in muffins or in sports drinks like Gatorade". Maybe. But we can train ourselves not to.

There's a bit of confusion here about willpower and mumblings of self control. John says "Many people assume that weight is mostly a matter of willpower – that we can learn both to exercise and to avoid muffins and gatorade". Achieving a fabulous physique has very little to do with will power and self control and a lot to do with belief and desire. Burning desire. If you truly believe that exercise will help with your weight loss goals and you develop a burning desire to reach them then there's simply no way you'd reach for the muffins as well. Job done.

Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're absolutely right. Henry Ford.