ONE of the most common New Year’s resolutions is that people want to lose weight and become fitter.

This is not surprising given that the BBC worked out a single traditional Christmas Day meal has 7,000 calories – the equivalent of nearly three days’ normal eating.

The positive effects of healthy living are well known. It helps prevent serious medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. It can help people cope better with the stresses and strains of daily life. It can even bring benefits to your bank balance if you buy smaller quantities of food and waste less.

My colleague Cllr Brian Mattock as the cabinet member responsible for health, and council officers, will promote Swindon’s Healthy Weight Awareness Week, which runs from Monday until next Saturday.

Our Health Improvement team will be passing on advice on how people can make simple lifestyle changes to manage their weight. There will be advice from dieticians about how to make simple changes to what you eat and still get the benefits.

The week links to National Obesity Awareness Week and the Let’s Turn Obesity Around campaign to highlight the problem of obesity. According to the National Obesity Forum, 50 per cent of the UK population could be obese by 2050 at a cost of £50 billion a year.

At first, this might seem rather daunting. Having two members of cabinet who completed Swindon’s half marathon – Claire Ellis and Keith Williams – does not make it any easier. Yet, there is a wide range of small changes that we can all make.

In Haydon Wick there are regular organised fitness walks – an excellent way to meet new people as well as enjoying beneficial exercise. There are many leisure and sports facilities in the borough, such as the Highworth Rec and Stratton’s Grange Drive Community Centre, and the private sector. We also have some free exercise areas where, weather permitting, you can burn off a few calories. If you want to do a little more, we have the thriving 5km Park Run at Lydiard on Saturdays, as well as the Swindon Shin Splints at Coate, and many more.

There will be a number of roadshows across the borough next week. For more information about the Healthy Weight Awareness Week or Swindon’s Health Improvement Team, call 01793 465413 or go to www.leisureinswindon .co.uk. I hope many of you will take advantage of what’s on offer.