The good thing about planning how to fill empty hours with something other than mindless eating is that instead of gaining weight, you may gain a new skill, a new friend or a new interest in life.

You may be losing your muscle and you won't even know it, because muscle loss is silent... The old adage holds true: use it or lose it.

Might the rapid enlargement of the competitor's stomach during an eating competition be a model for what happens to people who frequently overeat massive quantities of food?

My body seemed to be saying that my exhaustion required my becoming even more inert than I was in the car. But my body's message should have been this: Start moving and your energy will return.