‘ I’M TOO EMBARRASSED’

Feeling self-conscious about exercising outdoors is understandable, particularly if you’re not entirely comfortable with your body, but ask yourself this question: do you look at others when they are running? Probably not. You’ll find people are generally far too busy with their own concerns to notice you as you run by, and they sometimes may turn out to be more supportive than you would expect. Remember, everyone had to start running sometime.

If it helps, try a preemptive strike. Confronting embarrassment head-on worked for RW reader Amanda Phillips. She had a T-shirt printed that said ‘Fat Bird Running’ on the back and she told us (in August last year) that the responses she got were unanimously supportive.

If you’re not ready to be so direct, there are options: other readers have told us that when they first started running, they’d go early in the morning, or after dark. Later, they felt confident enough to go out at other times. Alternatively, finding a friend or group to join you on this programme is a great way of overcoming embarrassment, and can also help everyone stick with it and make the whole experience more fun.