When it comes to exercise I’ve always had an ‘all or nothing’ approach, with ‘nothing’ very much dominating in recent times.There were years in my 20s when I ran five times a week, pounding the pavements at 6am before work. In my 40s, I favoured gentler yoga and Pilates. But since turning 50, I’ve done nothing other than walking.Today, aged 60, I might be slim thanks to losing 4st on Mounjaro, but I haven’t just shed fat, I’ve also lost a great deal of muscle and would undoubtedly look better if I toned up a bit.Fat jabs proved a magical appetite-controlling solution. If only there was another one for exercise, a pill you pop without having to work up a sweat at the gym or in an exercise class. Could it be that dream has now also come true?High-end British wellness brand Lyma certainly thinks so. It recently tweaked the formula in its supplements to include a new ingredient they claim ‘bottles the effects of exercise’.ActivAMP, according to Lyma, is a ‘patented adaptogenic herb extract of Gynostemma pentaphyllum’.This family of compounds is said to increase the production of alarmins (the proteins and peptides released by the body during times of stress or injury), including sestrins (produced during exercise). In turn, these sestrins activate an enzyme called AMPK that’s usually stimulated by physical activity, boosting energy production and metabolic efficiency.Lyma states that studies have found this new adaptogen ‘to mimic some of the effects of exercise such as fat-burning and energy-producing metabolic processes’. It’s described as a ‘metabolic master switch’. Now aged 60, Claudia Connell says she might be slim thanks to losing 4st on Mounjaro, but she hasn’t just shed fat, she has also lost a great deal of muscle At the start of the year, while delighted with my slimness, I vowed to do something about my horribly saggy bum that resembled a flattened sofa cushion and pathetically weedy arms with all the muscle tone of a Twiglet.In readiness, I purchased a set of 5kg dumbbells and a walking pad (a small home treadmill designed only for walking pace), reasoning that it wouldn’t matter if I skipped some of my workouts because the pills would hopefully take over.At £199 for a three-month supply, it certainly isn’t cheap, but if I can achieve even half of the things the literature promises me, from better skin to improved memory and sleep, it’ll be worth its weight in gold.A sleek black presentation box containing my pills (along with a hand-crafted copper vessel to keep them in) arrives in the post.Eager to get started I begin popping my four pills a day, and I’m told that after just four weeks of taking the vitamins, I will start to see benefits, such as shinier hair and reduced cellular inflammation.But first, the boring bit: exercise. I aim to do 50 minutes of power walking four times a week, and in the first month I stick to it.My attempts at using dumbbells prove less successful. The 5kg weights are far too heavy and I hurt my wrist and neck on my first session, so I trade them for 2kg ones instead.I’ve been popping my Lyma pills religiously even though (despite what it says in the brochure) I find them quite bulky and difficult to swallow. Are my muscles toning up? Is my bottom lifting? I examine myself from all angles in the mirror and the answer is ‘no’, not so far.The walking pad doesn’t go brilliantly either. I’ve bought a cheapo one with no hand rail and find that if I’m watching the telly while speed-walking, my balance goes to pieces and I keep falling off. Claudia’s three-month supply of Lyma arrived in the post in a sleek black presentation box containing pills, along with a hand-crafted copper vessel to keep them in