I found the article a little... well, I'm not sure what adjective to use, but a little "off". >People told me that the first few weeks of exercising would be t

I found the article a little... well, I'm not sure what adjective to use, but a little "off". >People told me that the first few weeks of exercising would be the hardest, and after that point all the endorphins would kick in (or whatever) and then I would really start to enjoy that. Yes, it's the most difficult to start a new habit when you start it. It's certainly not a common claim that endorphins "kick in after a few weeks" though. >It turns out that in actual practice, I don’t exercise to lose weight, I exercise so that I can eat more calories and still lose weight. I'm the same way, but it has nothing to do with exercise, and it's certainly not "exercise's fault" (personifiying a bit) that I have poor willpower (or very good rationalization). >It also meant that honestly speaking the real key to losing weight was the calorie counting, not the exercising. This is not a revelation. Literally every gym, fitness club, personal trainer, pro or amateur athlete, etc... they will all say it's an 80/20 split between diet an exercise. "Abs are made in the kitchen" is a very common phrase amongst bodybuilders/those who want abs/athletes. >Also key for me was understanding that the exercise and calorie counting was going to be a permanent thing now, and not just something I was going to do until I hit a goal. I mean... if you diet and exercise and lose 10lbs, then stop dieting and exercising... you will gain the 10lbs back. >I felt better when I started exercising, and I feel better now than I did a year ago, both physically and mentally. But it’s important to note that exercising and bringing my body closer to something that corresponded to my own internal self-image of myself did not, in fact, solve all my problems. This is a great point and really the only part of the article with any insight. I think it's very important to realize that going from unfit to fit actually doesn't solve a lot of the problems one may think it does.