Former BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood, 64, appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain and admitted she was left “disappointed” after a recent health assessment revealed her fitness level was “average.”
Kirkwood, who left the BBC after 28 years, has been travelling with her husband Steve and is determined to stay healthy as she ages. She told hosts Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh that she underwent a group of mature health assessments to check her health proactively.
Assessment results and reaction
“I did recently a group of mature health assessments. Now, the reason I did that was because, for me, the best is yet to come. I want to live life well into old age. I want to be healthy. I want to do all the things that we have planned. Travel is a big one,” Kirkwood explained.
She added: “And I decided that it's probably a good idea to check out my health now rather than wait until something goes wrong. And I'm so glad I did because it was really reassuring. You know, I thought my cholesterol was going to be horrific because my body is full of chocolates. This is not a temple. But my cholesterol was fine.”
However, her fitness level came as a surprise. “And I thought that my fitness would be really quite good... I walked tons and exercised. But it was just average. So I was really disappointed,” she said.
Prevention over cure
Garraway remarked, “It shows you have to look at life differently, don't you?” Kirkwood agreed, noting that research shows 41% of people think life will be good as they age, but only 12% would consider having a health assessment before something goes wrong. “So prevention for me is much better than cure,” she added.
Life after the BBC
Kirkwood also opened up about how her life has changed since leaving the BBC. “I used to stay awake all day and go to bed between 7pm and 8pm, so that has changed. And now having an evening, we can go out and do things. But the nice thing that really has changed is that Steve and I saw each other for about four hours a week between Sunday and Thursday. So now we've got our evening. And it's really nice,” she said.
Good Morning Britain airs on ITV from 6am.
