Weighty matters

You may have started 2015 determined to lose the excess weight you gained during the run-up to Christmas and to be fitter and healthier generally. You may also have found that your enthusiasm for going to the gym has worn off as the year has progressed and to make matters worse you are stuck with an agreement with your gym which you can’t cancel. Don’t give up. Remember the words of President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826).

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.  Although the language  may be out of date the underlying message holds  good

Your local CAB can help you if you are finding it difficult to cancel your gym membership. The Office of Fair Trading has also published ‘Guidance on unfair terms in house and fitness club agreements’ which can be downloaded from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unfair-terms-in-health-and-fitness-club-agreements

You can also get advice (although not from your CAB) if you feel at risk when walking. The Farnham and North East Hampshire clinical commissioning group is taking part in a campaign called ‘WALC’ (Walk and Live Confidently). If you have fallen two or more times in the last year or if any three of the following five conditions apply to you

–  if you have had a stroke or been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease

–  you find it difficult getting up from a chair

–  you take more than four medications

–  have fallen recently

–  you have had problems with your balance or walking

call 0845 271 7201 and a trained  therapist will call you back at a mutually convenient time.

If your primary objective is to lose weight you might decide to try slimming pills which seem to offer a solution which suits you better.  If you decide on this option Citizens Advice has some tips for you to avoid losing more pounds than you bargained for.

In 2012, 189 complaints were made between April and June to Citizens Advice by dissatisfied consumers about slimming pills.  The equivalent figure two years later (April to June 2014) was 1,531.  Most complaints were  about money being taken from debit or credit cards for long-term subscriptions after people had signed up for a free or low cost trial.  This often happened in spite of orders having been cancelled during a fourteen day cooling off period.  Shoppers can protect themselves by looking through the small print carefully and checking to see that the companies they intend to buy from do not have a history of complaints made about them.  Key words to look out for in the small print include continuous payment authorities, guaranteed payments, subscription and recurring transaction.

 

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