I am happy even to see people doing the 15 minute walk to the store instead of firing up the car.

I would agree that simple is better. In this case, I just needed a little push. My overall goal was 30 lbs, I reached it, feel better, look better and am better prepared to face situations ahead.

We continue to work out, we take walks and I can acutally chase my son (5) around without feeling like I ran a marathon and gasping for breath.

I feel great and highly recommend the feeling.

I think simple is good. IMHO there isn't any great need to spend money on expensive equipment.

Basic weights: cans of soup or gallon or larger jugs of water, on up to five gallon bucket, concrete blocks and. I've seen it, the back end of a compact car.

Elastic bands sold for this job are cheap ($15 for a set) and quite effective. They are also compact and light so you easily take them with you as you travel.

Walking is good exercise. Carefully adding weights and a pack full of gravel can make walking as tough as you can handle.

A bike, or stationary bike is good all weather exercise. You can often get stationary bikes cheap at garage sales.

Calisthenics and isometrics are grand.

On the other hand if P90X, a drill sergeant, trainer, gym membership, or other motivational aid or program gets you off your rump and exercising in the long term it is probably worth the price. Whatever it takes.

The key is consistency not intensity. Walking a mile or two a couple times a week without fail is far better than a high intensity workout that you do a for a week and drop because your sore.

Tips that help keep people exercising:
Start easy and slowly increase duration and intensity over time. It doesn't have to hurt to work. The adage "No pain, no gain" is complete BS. Doing to much too soon is, IMHO, the number one reason people give up.

Exercise with someone. Friends can encourage you and keep you motivated when you are 'not in the mood'. Exercise with an enemy or rival for a challenge. But don't let anyone goad you into hurting yourself.

Record your exercise. Looking at a chart with a history of sessions makes you want to keep it up. Being able to look back on a record of improvement, consistency, and the inevitable stumbles allows you to keep things in perspective and understand that slumps, and the occasional break are all part of the process.

Find things that work for you. A friend found her motivation in sexy music videos. I find the exercise boring and tend to watch movies while exercising. I don't normally go out to see movies so watching them while exercising has allowed me to catch up on all those film I missed.

Don't brutalize yourself. I've seen people doing exercises so hard and long that it would make Superman cry. Not many of them keep up that level of intensity for very long. They burn out, injure themselves, or just get tired of the pain. Less intensity and less duration can help people keep up a consistent program long term.

Stay hydrated and set up a fan to keep air moving so you don't overheat or feel too miserable. By itself, suffering doesn't translate to progress.

Don't starve yourself. You need food, preferably good nutrition, to maintain the energy and motivation to exercise.

Don't freak out, or give up, if you don't lose much weight when you are exercising hard. Muscle weighs more than fat so it is doubly hard to lose weight when building muscle.