Exercise is good for you, good for your heart, good for your entire circulatory system. Exercise is supposed to be good for your brain, and good for your immune system. Moderation of course is recommended.

Try walking. It's easy and you can take it on your own pace.

Take long walks at a brisk pace. When you go shopping, park in the farthest spot from the door and walk. Then walk some more.

I too hate exercising, but I do it anyway. I do a half hour on an elliptical trainer almost every day. I started out slowly, but now I'm burning between 400 and 480 calories in that half hour.

I keep it on the back porch so I don't have to drive anywhere, and I can watch the birds, butterflies, rabbits, and other wildlife that comes to my back yard in the evening close to dusk.

As I said, I hate exercising. The hardest part is starting. So many days I tell myself I'm going to skip today. But I realize that if I start skipping, I'll end up using the elliptical to hang clothes on. So I get on it, and the half hour passes, I take a shower, and am glad I did it.

Many years ago, I took a vacation. I was climbing a steep hill, got winded, heart was pounding, and everybody else kept going except my wife who stayed with me.

I bought my first manual treadmill then. A couple of years later, we took another vacation, and I could not only keep up with the others, but could have left them behind if I wanted to.

Since then I've worn out 3 manual treadmills, and I'm on my second elliptical.

In the back yard I've seen regular birds, rabbits, butterflies, plus a wildcat, fox, sandhill cranes, gopher tortoises, and lots of migrating birds just passing through that I had to look up to see what they were.

But that is just the bonus.

I don't get winded and I don't get apprehensive about my heart pounding when others seem to be doing fine.

Walking is what we are built for. You don't need fancy gym equipment, the elliptical is not necessary. Just put on some comfortable shoes and take some time out for yourself. You deserve it.

Bob