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Philip Ruddock's Fitness Regime Shattered By McDonald's Run

Ruddock Goes On Macca's Run, Falls Off #Fitspo Wagon
Fairfax Media/Photo Illustration

Philip Ruddock, as the oldest member of the House of Representatives, is known as the Father of the House. In a way, he's probably just like a regular dad -- fairly old, trying to get back into shape, but lured into temptation by the sights, smells and tastes of the fast food juggernaut.

Ruddock, a keen Twitter user, has recently used his social media platform to share his exercise regime and stats from his Fitbit fitness tracker; but it was a different kind of run that might have derailed Ruddock's status as our #fitspo pollie (#fitspollie?)

Last week, he shared the latest stats from his Fitbit fitness tracker: 86,000 steps, at an average of 12,000 per day; 109 floors climbed; and more than 17,000 calories burned.

Not bad, but nowhere near as good as his numbers from July 28, where he took almost 100,000 steps in a week and burned almost 18,000 calories. Nice one, dad!

And that number itself was smashed in early July, notching 102,000 steps in just seven days.

But the strict #CleanLiving regime was not to last.

Whether as a sweet treat for his good work, or because he forgot to go grocery shopping that week and only had tomato sauce and expired cereal in the kitchen, or because he just felt like a Macca's run with a mate, Ruddock caved into the temptation of the Golden Arches and ducked into his local for a feed.

Minister for Employment Eric Abetz posted on his blog on Thursday that he, Ruddock and Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher had visited the McDonald’s training centre in Sydney to check out their facilities.

Ruddock said he took a bite out of McDonald's latest personalised burger option.

“Many Australians started their careers at McDonald’s. Their record of training the leaders of tomorrow is an example to all,” Ruddock said, according to Abetz's blog.

Come on mate -- we know everyone gets a hankering for a burger every now and then. You're still an inspiration, though.

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