As you get older there is a steady, gradual drop in your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This drops by two per cent for every decade of your life. Therefore, over the years you may need to change what you do to stay fit slim and toned.

In your early twenties you naturally have more lean muscle and less fat, so your metabolic rate will be high. Staying in shape is also likely to be easier as the chances are you have more time to get active and to spend on yourself. Bear in mind though that by your mid-twenties, if you’re not exercising regularly – concentrated exercise, such as power walking, cycling or aerobics, say three times a week – muscle mass gradually starts to decline, slowing your metabolic rate and increasing your fat stores. It’s also crucial to make sure you eat breakfast because if you don’t, you slow down your metabolism and send the body into “hoard mode,” thinking it’s starving because you’re going a long period of time frequently 8 to 10 hours or more, without food.

The thirties, like the forties, can be a busy decade for most women jugging career and family life but extra weight tends to head for the hips on women and most of us try to work it off with running or aerobic exercise but what we really need is to do more toning – not only because toning helps you to control your shape, but crucially because toning also helps to protect against osteoporosis.

Dinner should be your lightest meal, and some experts recommend you don’t anything after 8 p.m., or any later than 3 to 4 hours before bedtime. This helps your body process and burn the food when you’re awake and moving around and burning more calories per hour. It’s also not a good idea to drop your calorie intake below 1,000 calories a day during this decade (or any decade) because this will signal to your body that you are in starvation mode, and will slow down your metabolism.

During your forties your BMR starts to slow down as hormone fluctuations occur and weight starts to settle around the stomach and waist. It is absolutely crucial during these years to do toning weight resistance exercises two to three times a week to build up your metabolism boosting muscle and to help prevent osteoporosis. Also instead of three to five aerobic sessions every week you need to do at least 30- 40 minutes of aerobic exercise a day to keep your metabolism boosted.

Smaller, more frequent meals and snacks keeps your blood sugar stable and provides a steady source of energy to fuel metabolism so don’t go for more than three hours without eating. You’ve heard it before, but drink those 8 glasses of water every day. The energy burning process of metabolism needs water to work effectively.

The average age for the onset of the menopause is 51. During the menopause the body produces less oestrogen, which can cause the rapid loss of bone density. For some women, the hormonal changes can trigger weight gain. Given that the metabolic rate continues to slow with age unless it’s speeded up by regular exercise and weight training exercises to build metabolism boosting muscle, menopause weight gain can be difficult to lose. Make sure you get some good quality muscle building protein with every meal you eat, such as eggs, fish, pulses, nuts, seeds and especially hormone balancing soya.

During the sixties and beyond, weight generally stabilises but this is the time when you need to keep a very close eye on your cholesterol levels to protect the health of your heart. Once again aerobic exercise is vital because it helps to lower high cholesterol and eating a diet naturally high in fibre, not adding bran, is also sound advice.

Q: Recently, I’ve heard that eating whole eggs is healthier than eating egg whites or fat-free substitutes. I’ve also heard that eggs can help you lose weight but, traditional wisdom seems to suggest that eggs are bad, so I’m confused. Can you explain?

A: Eggs are one of nature’s near-perfect foods. They contain an easily digestible form of protein, plus loads of other valuable compounds and nutrients that can even help you lose weight. With rare exceptions, such as an allergy, there isn’t any reason to avoid them, despite what you may have heard. The reasons traditional medical experts have recommended avoiding eggs in the past is because of its reputation as a high cholesterol food.

Cholesterol is crucial for every cell in the body, and around 80 percent of cholesterol in the body is produced by the body itself in the liver, regardless of how much of it you eat or don’t eat. Most of your body’s cholesterol is found within the cells, where it has all kinds of positive effects. Only about 7 percent of the body’s store of cholesterol is in the blood, and even then it doesn’t do any real damage until it oxidises and begins to stick to our arterial walls.

Nature, in her infinite wisdom, also created the egg complete with its own built-in antioxidant. It’s called lecithin, and it helps prevent egg cholesterol from becoming a problem. Interestingly, lecithin is found in the yolk, which many people mistakenly discard because it contains cholesterol.

As for weight loss, you are right, recent research has shown that eggs can be an excellent food for weight loss because they make us feel fuller for longer than other foods. Researchers from Louisiana State University in the U.S. looked at the eating habits of a group of overweight women. The women, who were following a low-fat diet, were asked to eat either two eggs a day for breakfast, or have a bagel. These two meals contained the same number of calories and yet the weight loss effect was very different. After eight weeks, the women who had eaten eggs for breakfast instead of bagels had lost the most weight and also felt as if they had more energy.

Eggs are a first class protein and it is the protein effect which can help us to feel fuller longer. According to the World Health Organisation most people can have up to ten eggs a week and buy organic where possible.

Going on a diet is unlikely to lead to long-term weight loss, according to a new study.

Researchers in California found people typically lose between five and 10% of their starting weight during the first six months of a diet. But the study found between a third and two-thirds of people who went on diets regained more weight than they had lost, within four or five years.

The study was carried out by researchers at UCLA, California’s biggest university. The report found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more. Sustained weight loss was found in only a small minority of participants, while complete loss regain was found in the majority. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people.

Researchers analysed 31 long-term studies that followed participants for two to five years. They concluded that most of them would have been better off not going on the diet at all. Their weight would have been pretty much the same, and their bodies would not suffer the wear and tear of losing weight and gaining it all back.