The important this is to start easy, so you do not hurt yourself. Select a routine that you enjoy, so you'll stick to it. The main objectives are to built strength, stamina and flexibility. Strength comes from weight training, which will increase your muscular strength. Muscle is denser than fat tissue, so you'll slim down, and you'll get stronger. Stronger muscles will also improve your metabolic rate, so you'll be burning more calories. Stamina comes from aerobics training like running (or walking), swimming, bike riding -- anything that gets your heart rate up and keeps it there. This is good for cardiovascular fitness. It will keep your heart muscle in shape. Aerobic routines that involve some impact, like running or walking, also improve bone mass and prevent or reduce bone loss that occurs with aging. Both weight training and aerobics improve cardiovascular function and maintain optimal blood pressure. Flexibility is important for preventing injuries while exercising. For flexibility, you need to stretch certain muscle groups that are prone to injury during strenuous exercise or sports. But if stretching is not done properly, you can hurt yourself. It's important to "warm up" by doing just a little light exercise for a few minutes before stretching. That could be walking, light jogging, stationary bike riding. Do it at a moderate pace just to warm up your muscles. Then you stretch. You should also stretch again after you've finished your exercise session. Get a good book or some personal guidance on how best to stretch. That's important so you do it right and don't hurt yourself. As you get into a regular routine, you'll know you are getting where you want to go if you find that you look forward to a good workout and feel cheated if something happens and you can't go.

Congrats, had I known you wanted one I would have sent you my dd's. Wish we never got it for her... We did not bother to research enough and found out after she purchased it that there is a Free Text app. She can also get on the internet as long as she can find an unlocked server where she is. Ours is locked but she can get several others when she sits on her bed. She has been texting without out knowing. The messages can be deleted instantly and I think disappear on their own quickly. So basically for a parent it is near impossible to monitor. The times we randomly check we have caught a few inappropriate teen conversations and are dealing with that. Also, teens are addicted to this thing. They literally sleep with it under the pillow or beside them under the covers. She even goes into the bathroom with it. It is really annoying. We do make her turn it in at night which helps. At least with a cell phone texting is retrievable. We wish we had just got her a new phone with texting and a separate ipod. But for an adult it is a great enjoyment. Have fun. My DH is a lot like you with music. He even has Sirrus in his car where I just have my regular radio. Heck, I was really bummed when he took out my cassette player in my old car and put in a cd player. I could not listen to my old Andy Gibb cassette. He has been trying to find it and needs to look again. I gotta have my Andy! Oh, you have to get the app where you toss wads of paper into the trash can. That is so addictive!!!!

I wear SkirtSports and Athleta running skorts for running and working out. For me the length is perfect - long enough to wear out to the grocery store w/o feeling skimpy. The built in compression shorts on the SkirtSports brand have pockets on either thigh where I store my car key and my iPod or anything else I need to carry. I also have a few things from lululemon that I love. I mostly wear skorts for working out now b/c I don't feel funny wearing them out in public. I don't like wearing tights/compression gear if I'm running errands. SkirtSports also has a longer skirt that I wouldn't wear for exercising as it's a tad too long, but it's great for running errands. In cooler months, I wear the LottaBreeze Capri style (capri w/skirt over top). For winter, I wear insulated running tights that have a built in skirt from Athleta or I wear Under Armour Cold Gear tights with a separate skirt from Athleta over top to cover my arse. Once I discovered skirts/skorts, I rarely ever wear workout shorts anymore (the compression shorts underneath prevent chafing). Here is a link that might be useful: Skirt Sports

I'm with those who've suggested creating a dual-purpose room. It sounds like you would use the crafting/project space, so why not set up half the room (or at least a corner) with a work space for yourself, and find some (gently used) fitness equipment your husband wants? Then you could see how you end up using the room before devoting more space than necessary to one purpose or the other. When I'm ready for another area to have to clean and maintain (which won't be for at least a couple of years), we'll finish our basement. We have the floor plan roughly worked out, and one room will be a combined fitness and project room. Right now the fitness stuff is set up in a corner of the unfinished basement and only sees use on the coldest mornings of the year, or occasionally when the kids are playing down there and it's too hot to run outside. I'm not sure it will get much more use even when finished as I'd much rather be outside moving around, but it's nice to have during periods of extreme weather. My sewing machine is now in a corner of our bedroom that's not ideal, but better than having it shut up somewhere. Projects end up all over the house, spread out in the living room or dining room. There's a kids craft table spackled and ready to be sanded sitting in the middle of the living room as I type. I know I would use a project space if I had a designated one, but the thought of having to clean (and decorate!) the basement when I'm still working on the main floors is too much for me at the moment.