Piranha-
Again, nicely said.
I wanted to point out one more thing about my experience with exercise. Even though I’ve been successful progressively building stamina, there are times I’ve had to back off for a little while. Just two weeks ago, I took five full days off from the gym and just ate like a maniac, because I felt severely over-trained. When I got better and knew I could exercise again, I went right back to my old routine, with a little more energy than before. Amazingly, I hadn’t gained a single pound.
My point is that I do see the value of occasional periods of rest and overeating. This has happened to me a few times since last fall. Usually I’ll just take a couple days off rather than a week, but you have to do what you have to do. I can understand that, for people who are already worn down with eating disorders and over-training, a longer period of rest and overfeeding is probably necessary before they can become active again.
Also, I believe in very gradual progress. Last summer when I started, I couldn’t even run a quarter mile without losing my breath. If I had tried to start running a mile every day immediately, I couldn’t have done it, and I would have given up. I think it’s important to start easy and just get better a little bit at a time. Then, over the course of several months or a year, amazing changes are possible.