Seriously. My friend, Tim, has gotten gazelle-intense about exercise. Having no choice but to exercise and then having that military rigour drummed into you will do the trick. I just tag along for the workouts when he’s not at army.

Your advice to use some sort of event to help training is the best idea! I ran two 10km races this year, both for different charities, and it really helped me get the motivation I needed to get running! Although, the poster above is spot-on: when it’s over, the motivation seems to lag a little. I’ve had a hard time since trying to get my motivation back, so my fiance decided we should make exercise a competition, since he’d like to lose some weight too! We both hate losing, so hopefully this will work for us! We are just starting, and we will check in monthly to see who has done better in weight loss, number of calories burned, and amount of exercise time. Whoever wins gets a healthy 3-course meal cooked for them! Wish us luck!

Thanks again for your inspiring articles!