You need to do more than sporadic exercise if you want to truly get physically fit. Everybody has episodes of "I want to get fit!" and "I want to be healthier!" If you truly want to get fit you need to make a commitment to a better level of overall health. You won't ever get totally fit if you don't make yourself eat healthy foods and follow a healthy lifestyle. Obviously those topics are best left for another time. There are just a few tips that you can use to start putting together your fitness routine.
Eat a nutritious and balanced diet. The healthier your food is, the more fit your body will be. Even if you work out three times a day every day it won't do a thing to help you if your diet is filled with processed and junk foods. Eating well will help you make sure that you are getting all of the vitamins and nutrients that you need to keep your body healthy as you work to increase your fitness. Eating properly gives you a lot more energy for things like working out and increasing your physical fitness.
It is possible to get in a full workout without having to spend hours at the gym. Rowing machines and elliptical trainers give your body a full workout by only doing a single activity. Believe it or not, a twenty minute session on an elliptical trainer or in a rowing machine will train and tone your whole body. Twenty minutes in one of these machines is equal to an hour long workout in which you worked the areas of your body separately. Lots of people choose to use one of these machines because they do the same thing the other equipment machines do but they do it in a fraction of the time!
Stay hydrated while you are exercising. Beverages like Gatorade and Powerade are good to have on hand when you do a hard workout because they replace your electrolytes. If you don't like electrolyte drinks at least keep a full bottle of water handy so that you can hydrate yourself over the course of your fitness workout. If you don't regularly stop to drink your water (or other drinks) you will get dehydrated and you risk seriously damaging your body. Obviously not all drinks are the same. You want to stay away from sugary juices, sodas or, of course, any alcoholic beverages.
Achieving true fitness does not have to be as difficult as it sometimes seems. If you are willing to be patient and work hard there isn't any reason you shouldn't be able to achieve fitness.