Hey Dane,
I have a few suggestions for you:
1) Look into Prolotherapy & Platelet Rich Plasma for your knee. It’s a new regenerative injection therapy that can help completely heal torn meniscus / regenerate cartilage – without requiring surgery.
2) A healthy diet plan will be the #1 most important part of dropping your BP. We have guys who are using our Fit Father Meal Plan drop their BP 40+ points without vigorous exercise. Getting the weight off and lowering the inflammation in your body (from a cleaner diet) will be the best way to approach your Hypertension.
3) Exercise IS helpful. That said, I would personally recommend against any exercise that directly causes you knee pain. We would want to get creative in how we work around the knee pain wit your workouts. You could do some upper body strength training, which would be very beneficial for weight loss/muscle building/fat loss.
In fact, there is a lot of very strong evidence that strength training is MORE effective for fat loss than traditional cardio.
I hope those suggestions help. If you’re interested in some structured support on the eating, exercise, and accountability front, you may want to learn more about our 30-day program.
Here’s a link to the program overview letter -> http://www.fitfatherproject.com/ff30x-letter/

Willpower is a super important topic (as you know Anthony).
The latest research supports the idea that willpower is a lot like a muscle… it gets strengthened through “smart training” over time… and it can get weakened/fatigue from over-use, life stressors, lack of sleep, etc.
Just wrote this up on a similar thought. Check this article below:
https://www.fitfatherproject.com/lack-of-discipline/