Shelley Craft Talks Diet, Exercise and Motherhood

Down-To-Earth Tv Reno Queen Shelley Craft Talks To Paul Ewart About Motherhood, Making Her Marriage Work And Why Fitness Classes Are Off The Menu

- Paul Ewart

Shelley Craft has forged a career as one of Australia’s home-renovation queens. Through her roles as host of The Block and other TV hits, she’s been a fixture on our screens for decades. At 43, she’s perennially fresh-faced and toned, appearing to be the poster girl for clean living, but the truth is this small-screen stunner has a surprising secret: she doesn’t exercise.

“I pretended for many years that I care and enjoy it, but I just don’t!” she reveals to Good Health & Wellbeing. “I live a very active lifestyle, so I guess that’s my excuse. With two kids, two dogs, house renos and flying interstate back and forth for work, I’m always on the move.”

As Shelley recalls being “forced” to play sports at school, it’s clear this legacy of organised physical activity affects her to this day. She says that she’d never choose “running or physical activity as a form of fun”. So how does she avoid the internal guilt-tripping dialogue that plagues the rest of us when it comes to not hitting the gym?

Turns out, she doesn’t, but “I get it,” she says. “Before every season of The Block kicks off, I tell myself to get fit and I’ll do a few weeks. I tried F45 this year, and it’s great when you’re time poor but then, of course, The Block kicked off and it fell by the wayside.”

Instead, the mum-of-two prefers to combine getting active with family time. “We ride our bikes and walk everywhere, whether that’s doing the grocery shopping, heading down to the beach, or taking the kids to school,” she says. “We’ll take the dogs for a walk, kick a soccer ball together or go for a swim in the ocean.”