Fitness

We don't usually talk about diets on SoSensational, confining our subject matter to celebs, fashion, beauty, etc, but we have to share the 52Diets Blog, which is featured in today's edition of The Sun, and has been written by Jan's daughter, Katie.

Katie's basic premise was  simple. She had shed most of her baby-weight after giving birth to two little girls, but just wanted to lose the last half a stone. As Katie observed: "It's not a lot. probably all it required was a little less chocolate and a little more self-control."

But driven by "the boredom of maternity leave and the desire to do something more interesting", she decided to try this regime of a different diet each week for a year. So, over 52 weeks (or so), she is sampling some of the diets out there. She wants to see how easy they are to follow, how intrusive, how expensive, and she has been blogging her progress as she goes.

See the 52Diets blog
See The Sun feature

I have to confess, I have never been a huge fan of Madonna's music, and felt fairly luke-warm about her prowess as an actress. (Had she sought it, "Don't give up the day job," would have been my advice after I watched "Desperately Seeking Susan".)

But as a role model, a woman who has the ability to reinvent herself and look more fabulous with (almost) every new invention, she has no peers and no competition. Sometimes a movie actress or singer looks as if they are coming up on the rails, but they just fall away. The effort to keep up for such a sustained period is just too great.

Cheryl Cole may have a new hairstyle, or Gwynneth Paltrow may repackage herself as Yummie Mummy de luxe, but Madonna, 53 today - August 16 - epitomises 20th-century woman. Born in 1958 (the same decade as me), she just proves that if you are prepared to put in the work, you can look strong and fabulous.

I have no special insight into whether or not she has had cosmetic surgery. She denies it, and looking at her, I think she is telling the truth. There are none of the tell-tale signs of a mask-like inability to smile. But even if she did, her career - unlike that of a doctor or a teacher - depends on how she looks. But looking at early pictures of her, the essential face remains the same, just a little leaner. I suspect that a rigid diet, obsessive exercise, yoga, stringent self-discipline, a brilliant hairdresses and probably the best facialist in the Western hemisphere combine to keep her looking that good without resort to a surgeon's knife.

I still don't love your music, Madonna, but I hail you as an example to over-50s womanhood.

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If you are woman over 50, the past 25 years or so of your life are probably, like mine, strewn with gym memberships, taken out at substantial cost, used for three weeks and then abandoned when going every other day got too much to fit in, or you simply decided you hated the whole narcissistic gym “thing”.

I have, literally, lost count of the number of times I have joined a gym, stayed with the programme for anything from two weeks to half a year, and then just let my membership lapse

For the past 12 years I have kept reasonably fit walking once or twice a week – serious stuff, six to 20 mi