Aerobic fitness is important.

Last year I decided I couldn't afford to go through life being fat. At 5'10" and almost 250 lbs I was in very poor shape. I decided I would eat better and exercise.14 months later I am down to 165 lbs. My tempo runs have me doing a 5K in under 20:30 (4.57 miles in 30 minutes), and I can do 10 pull-ups in a row without difficulty

I get asked at work and by friends and family what the secret is, but sadly there is none. I ate less, exercised more, and improved my sleep hygiene.  My daily calorie consumption decreased from 5500 kCal to ~3400 kCal, and I started doing cardio 3 days a week and lifting weights on 3 other days.

At the start my progress was slow. "cardio" on the first day consisted of:

• Walking 10 minutes.
• Alternating between jogging 1 minute and walking 1 minute for 10 minutes.
• Walking 10 minutes.

By the end of the month, I was jogging for 30 minutes continuously. It wasn't "fast" by any means; I was jogging at a 12 minute mile pace. But I could still jog for 30 minutes without feeling like I was dying. It took another month before I could complete 3 miles in 30 minutes. I think this is the absolute floor for most adults. 3 miles in 28 minutes is a failing time in the marine PFT, but 30 is perfectly achievable by any reasonably healthy adult male between 20 and 50.

I am not aerobically gifted in any way. I never did track (or any sport for that matter) in high school or college, but I can say the following with certainty:

If you can't complete 3 miles in the failing time for the marine pft with a generous 2 minute grace period, you probably have no business "prepping" until you can.

Was able to score a quadrivalent flu shot this year.

I quite happy that was able to find time to get a flu shot. At ~$40 for the quadrivalent formulation it's a cheap way to protect myself and my family.

Vitals:

Standard formulation (2014-2015) quadrivalent flu vaccine.

Has a 70-90% effectiveness at preventing sickness from the following strains( and strains with similar surface proteins) two weeks after the vaccine is applied:

• A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
• A/Texas/50/2012 (H3N2)-like virus
• B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus
• B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus

Discussion:

The formulation remains unchanged (A/Texas/50/2012 is basically the same as A/Victoria/361/2011). The quadrivalent vaccine has slightly more coverage, but doesn't include any H5N1 strains. While I focus on the non-prepper, preppers with chickens or ducks should consider getting their stocks vaccinated with the various H5N1 vaccines.

In a SHTF situation, flu is exceptionally dangerous. It will impact you and your companions from operating at 100%.

Are your vaccinations up to date? If not, you probably have no business "prepping".