This is a super important point, but someone touched on it above. A major part of fitness is the lifestyle aspect, whether it's finding activities that combine social activity and fitness (sports!) or taking things you do already (like commuting) and making those physical (living where you can walk to commute instead of driving). None of this is easy, and yes, this lifestyle means you have to want to make the change. But for me I'm not trying to stay fit to look fancy or buy new clothes. I'm trying to stay fit and build patterns at 30 so that I'm still able to learn new tech and play with my great grand kids at 90. I look at this as investing in my future and my investment in fitness now is going to pay more mental health dividends than any amount of money. Speaking of course from a position where I have the privilege to make these choices.

I typically need 40 minutes of "intentional" walking per day (i.e. two laps around my subdivision) to supplement my "incidental" walking (i.e. going from the bedroom to kitchen to bathroom). I'm highly skeptical that anyone needs a trip to the gym to walk. It's walking!

Spoken like a person whose never experienced -20f weather. I’m teasing not looking for a “weather off”.

Depending on how much space you have a you can find treadmills cheap on Craigslist. People practically have to give them away just to get rid of them. I use a treadmill in the winter and go outside during the summer. There are also walking only treadmills that are pretty affordable ($300) that fit under a desk and you can walk during meetings etc. I generally agree going to a gym just to walk seems like a waste.

I was leaving aside the gym trip:

> A 30 minute workout, two or three times a week is sufficient (i.e. hit 6 or 7 machines, for 3 sets each)

...which was separate from the hour+ walk every day.

Investing time your health is a very worthwhile investment.