<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>>I once paid $500 for a 16-month membership to a gym for the two of us. Net result: we periodically went for a month. I thought the fact that I paid that much money for the membership would motivate me to go, but I considered it cutting into what precious free time we have.
I have a membership to a gym, but in reality, the only time I ever use it is when a bunch of us decide to go for a little work out, I will never go to the gym alone. Why not? I have all the free weights I need, I don't mind the cold whatsoever (I'm used to running in it, even as low as -40 wind chill, the coldest mornings of the year). The thing is, you can't look at it like it's something you just do, and something that might cut into your free time. Look at it like it is the most important thing in your life, like your health depends on it. I've written my advice a hundred times before on this site (probably literally). Unless you make it the most important thing in your life, you will probably fail, it's as simple as that; I have seen a lot of people fail at it before.
Look at things this way, you have 168 hours in a week, use 40 working, use 50 sleeping, that leaves 78 hours in your life that you have to fit in showers, brushing teeth, and eating somewhere into. Weights only take a few hours a week, running at first will take you less than an hour a week. Start with small weights, and work your way up. Remember, this is your body, if you really want to be serious about being healthy, these workouts will take priority over everything else which goes on in those 78 hours.
>I know I'm going to have a heart attack if I don't shape up. I have a genetic disposition for one. Great-grandfather died of a heart attack. Grandfather died of a heart attack (prompting my grandmother to drink herself to death, literally). My mother would have had the same heart attack, but modern medicine prevented it. (She has a couple of stints in her heart and takes quite a cocktail of heart drugs.)
That's something that you should try to prevent, I would actually highly recommend just dropping everything and changing your life now. You could have 50+ healthy years ahead of you, or none, just think about it, you could be more healthy at age 75 than you are now, and all the time between.
>I think I need an indoor bike that I could use for 10-30 minutes, so it doesn't take so much time. (Going to the gym was a 2-hour affair.) But giving up good-tasting food for diet cola (bleech!) is hard to do.
My advice, use your own two legs, go out every second day and see how far you can run, kill yourself running. Also, what is good tasting food for you? Do you like tuna? Broccolli? carrots? eggs? how about steak? potatoes? I used to drink a lot of Coke myself, now I can't even stomach the stuff, it makes me sick to drink any kind of soft drink (except Fresca, for some reason I love that stuff =P). To be quite honest, I eat a ton, I don't watch what I eat, but then again I hate cake, I hate ice cream, milk shakes, fast food, anything like that, even though once in a while I'll get some BK =P
I also really like to swim, swimming is an extremely good way to spend time, and if you like biking, try that too.
On supplements, they're something I recommend using, but only once you know yourself. Kind of hard to explain, but don't bother wasting your money on them until you've been working out for at least 2 years AFTER you have begun building muscle, at least, likely it will be 4 or 5, and even as high as 7. I've used protein supplements for the last 2 years, and they do work wonders, but ONLY when you know what your doing, and ONLY after you have already exshausted the potential of regular food, which is something that is certainly not a short term thing.
You also don't need to be huge, but it's a nice feeling to be larger, stronger, and faster than everyone else. Once you begin seeing results, it will become like an addiction for you; guaranteed.</div>
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