When I determined that it was time to stop postponing the need to diet and exercise, the hardest thing was exercise. I "forced" myself by going and signing a contract with a gym for a year. So now there's money going out of my pocket, and by golly, I better be getting a return on it. The next hardest thing was going in for the first workout. Took me a week after joining to decide to do that. I went and did 20 minutes on the treadmill. One of the perks for joining the gym was 6 sessions with a personal trainer. Over those six sessions he determined the right exercises for me to do, showed me how to use certain weight machines that I would never have thought about using on my own, and set me up with a workout plan. I now make it to the gym at least 3-4 times a week, and spend 90 minutes per workout between the weight machines and cardio machines. But the hardest workout was that first one of 20 minutes.

I am totally impressed and astonished. Thank you so very much for your inspiration. I remember going on a Stair Master and only doing 2 minutes. My svelte DH could only do 1 minute. It was all uphill from thereon for me.

Please know how great you are doing and share your accomplishments from time to time with us. Your testimony is quite motivational, bluefish!

Yes---I workout. One thing I know for sure, you have to really enjoy the workout you do to stay committed. While in a (leg) cast recovering from an injury I decided kickboxing wasn't for me. I borrowed from the library, friends, and purchases dozens of fitness videos and watched them, then started working with them during my recovery.

For me anything latin-inspired, dance, bellydance, yoga, weight training, heart pumping high energy is what I love.

Jazzercise is one of my favorites, sport yoga, gentle yoga, weights, circuit, Bosu...Zumba. Just started taking ballroom.

So once I found what I loved to do, it was pretty easy to get a routine going.

Zumbadeb, you have found and shared the true success of working out: Loving the routine. Dance moves sound good. Constant exchanges of videos ate excellent preventing staleness and repetition. I loved the Stair Master and conquered it until my knee blew out. Eight months until full healing occurred. Not willing to face that again, I search for a suitable substitution. Thank you so much for your energetic inspiration.