Nanci, I suspect the response that you found harsh may well be an example of something very well meaning being lost in the email shuffle. Sometimes people write things and part of the meaning gets lost due to the medium. That's why many of us use so many darn smilies!

Anyway, I'm not sure if your fear of exercise is related to a physical issue or not. I mean, like a condition that might prevent you from exercising without causing injury. But there are certainly emotional issues we all face regarding exercise.

For instance, you may be hesitant to start a program for fear that you will not be able to keep it up, thus disappointing yourself and possible sobataging the progress you've made. I think I can safely say that we're all striving to break that cycle.

Or it may be that you're already sub-conciously holding yourself back. Many of us have discussed this notion before, that we say we want to be thin and healthy, but along with that comes more interaction with people and people looking at us more. A lot of people get freaked by that idea and sort of self-sabotage to keep from dealing with that.

I'm not suggesting any of those ideas is true for you. But I wanted to throw this out there for everyone to think about.

P.S. I did not exercise for 8 months when I began LCing. I lost 75 pounds. But once I started, I really enjoyed it and I would not want to stop now.

Good luck! Hope this helps a little..

Donald