I don't mean to lecture here, but I'll trade offending someone for saving someone's life. For those of us around 40+years old, hip or knee problems are usually a sign that your carrying too much weight. Same with Diabetes and various other ailments. If any of you are like me, you were pretty much invincible as a teen and could eat and drink whatever you wanted and not gain an ounce of fat. When I was 17, I joined the Army in the split option program, and went into basic training in the summer break after my junior year. I was a pretty good athlete before going in and actually played o-line on my high school football team at 130 lbs (I was probably 120 in my sophomore year.) O-line was not my best position, (I was team captain on defense at LB and was a killer headhunter on special teams.), but I beat out guys a hundred pounds heavier than me due to my strength, (I could leg press 710 lbs), my leverage and technique, (I was captain of the wrestling team.), and my endurance and heart, ( I was on the track team and could run the mile in 4 mins and 19 secs and 5 miles in about 27 mins). In the Army, my drill sergeant decided I was too small and 8 weeks later when I graduated basic training, I was a 165 lb beast. The drill sergeants would literally take food off a big guys plate and put it on mine. They would also stand behind me in the chow line and load food on my plate. When I played football my senior year, I was a dominating o-lineman, LB and headhunter. I thought I was a super hero when I got out. I was so much stronger and faster than the guys my size that I had the attitude that "eat + workout hard" is the ultimate combo. In my college years, I didn't find the time to workout so hard. I was still a better athlete than most guys I knew. I was about 185 lbs at this time and could still eat and drink anything I wanted and was still healthier than most people. Around 30 years old my metabolism slowed down, and I pretty much stopped working out all together. It was harder to find the time, but the main reason not to workout was that I wasn't getting the same results. I started working out again about 7 months ago. (My weight was 225 lbs then and I'm 5' 10"). I didn't notice too much of a difference until I started to manage my diet. Once I started to try to cut out the fat, I got a boost to my metabolism and my energy level. I'm now at 203 lbs and I'm pretty sure I'll get back down to 185 and be a lot healthier. Again I don't want to lecture but....The biggest thing to improve your health is to exercise. Also watch eating the crap if your over 30. Quit Smoking.Quit doing what I did and stop blaming your situation for your problem. Once I stopped saying I didn't have time to workout, I found time to workout.Understand that no matter what you do, your diet will have more impact on your overall health than exercise. Cut out the fat.Let your family know what your doing. I learned this one from experience. I tried to go it alone and failed because I didn't want to disappoint my family. If you lay out your intent of not wanting to die and fail your family, they are more likely to let you workout instead of arguing that you should take them shoe shopping.Like everything else in your life, monitor your progress. If you fail, it's not the end of the world as long as you make adjustments.Set your ego aside. You wouldn't have to make adjustments if you got everything right in the first place, but if you make them, your way ahead of most lazy Americans that won't adjust.