When I spoke to Liz Said at 10am, she had already been for an hour's run. "I start my day with a run in the morning. I was up at 5.45am. Then I usually play squash later during the same day, or I go to the gym – or both.

I work hard at keeping fit and young-looking and slim. Sometimes I'm told: 'Oh, you're lucky, you're so slim'. It's not a matter of luck, it's a matter of hard work. Where I'm lucky, I think, is that I enjoy it. If I don't exercise at least once a day, I feel lethargic. I think energy breeds energy – the more you do, the more energy you have."

Liz is 57 years old and has three sons aged 32, 29 and 25. She is divorced and remarried, and has four grandchildren from her husband's side of the family. "But I consider them my own anyway. So I'm not a grandmother but I have grandchildren. And I look forward to having my very own in the very near future."

She is a great believer in the positive effects of exercise and that anyone can enjoy these benefits at any age.

"If you're fit you've got energy, and even basic things like running for a bus, going up the stairs, looking after grandchildren, become easier. It affects your everyday life. It also keeps you more mentally alert; exercise is being used as a cure for depression because when you exercise you release these feel-good endorphins. It also helps to keep your weight down by burning off any extra calories you might have eaten.

"I think anybody can achieve a certain level of fitness – you don't have to be an elite athlete, it's enough to go for a brisk half-hour walk once a day – the secret is to be consistent."

Liz started running three years ago and ran her first half-marathon in 2001. "So far I've done five. I did my first half-marathon in one hour and 46 minutes and my last one I did in one hour and 35 minutes so I managed to cut down quite a bit, but that's all down to training."

Liz is also on the committee of the Women in Sport Commission of the Malta Olympic Committee (MOC). "We promote women's sports and the role of women in sport, we also make sure women get the same treatment, whether it's their training times, payment, opportunities to train abroad – we try to ensure that there is no discrimination.

"In squash I can say that there is no discrimination at all. But, having said that, through the Commission, I have learnt that there still exists some discrimination; for instance, some athletes are paid to train and the women are paid less than the men even though they would have done the same training. I think that's very unfair!

"Another thing about women in sport – usually training is done in the evening, and a woman, especially a young mother, has to think: 'Right, who's going to look after my children? And I've got to leave them supper...’ A man will just go: 'Bye, hon, I'm off to play squash, I'm off to train...' That restricts women a lot."

"But it's not just the lack of time and the lack of support. I think women are still not confident enough to take more leading roles in sports; they might feel that they're not good enough – which is a shame. I find that when women do take up a certain responsibility, they really work at it and end up doing a very good job of it too."

Liz is also ranked as Malta's fifth seed national female squash player. She forms part of the national squash team, which has consistently brought great honour to Malta. "Yes, we have a very good record. Every time we take part in the Games for the Small States of Europe (GSSE) we win the Gold. The men's record is not quite as good, but they have won Gold twice and they won silver many times.

"The reason why the women do so well is probably because not many women play squash in Malta – so we have to play against men. Men's standards are always much higher than women's, at the top level."

Liz's training for the GSSE in June last year meant that her fitness level had to be assessed regularly. "All the national athletes were tested at the MOC Russian clinic. They test your IPP – your index of physical performance, and mine was a 115 per cent." She laughs at my look of disbelief. "Yes, I know."

Despite her high fitness level, Liz does not follow any particular diet. “If you eat sensibly and keep an eye on the portions, you're okay. Most portions should not be bigger than the size of your fist.

"Some people think: 'These are low-fat biscuits, OK, so I can have a packet.' No way! You're better off having two full-fat biscuits rather than a whole packet of low-fat ones – because you'll end up eating more fat than you would have done had you just eaten the two full-fat ones.

"If you want to lose weight it's important to retrain your eating habits – and also not to do it in too short a time, because the quicker you lose weight, the chances are that the quicker you could put it on again. There's no way that anybody can spend the rest of their life eating just cabbage or lettuce leaves. So once you come off your lettuce diet, you're going to go back to eating normally and you're going to put on weight again. It's much better to do it gradually and sensibly."

Paradoxically, her other interests besides fitness are food-related: cooking – and making novelty cakes.

"My other love is cooking. I always say I wish I could have my own catering business – I don't mean having my own restaurant – but I would like to, for example, come to your house and cook for you – whether you are two or 200! In fact, whenever we have a party at home, even for 150 people, I do all the catering myself, sweets and savouries, whether it's a buffet or finger food... the lot.

“The way to do that is planning. I start weeks ahead, I go through the recipes, I write down all the ingredients, put them into groups and as I usually always go to the same supermarket, I even know whether they're in aisle 1, aisle 2 and so on. It's lists and lists and lists.

"I also love decorating cakes, I make novelty cakes. Usually when I give them to children, they don't cut them because they want to keep them. The last one I did was a Ferrari car. I bought a toy Ferrari car and I copied it. I also made Dumbo for my friend's grandson.

"Once I copied a Barolo bottle – for the 21st birthday of my friend's son. He came to collect it and he said: 'Where is it?' and I said 'It's there'. He said: 'Where?' I said: 'There'. Because it looked so much like the real bottle!"

Liz does most of her cooking and cake decorating at night. "The only thing I can economise on is my sleep. I love my sleep but I'm always counting my hours. That is the only way I can fit everything into my day. I don't waste any time. If I'm sitting in front of the TV, I'm either catching up with my reading or I'm doing my ironing. I like to keep myself up-to-date with what is happening in the world so I read both local and foreign daily papers – but sometimes it's done on my exercise bike.

"I'm lucky because I have a lot of time for myself to be able to do all these things. It was more of a struggle when I was working full-time – a lot of women are struggling because they have so much to do and they don't have a lot of support. So much is expected of women and I really admire those women who cope with a job and family life and fitness – it’s not easy."