I admit I didn't read the previous posts at all but I'm going to give my few words anyway.
"We are not what we want to be but what we need to be."
Some six years ago I started to have some physical activity through hobbies and at the same time I consciously decided to start dropping my weight. It was well in place as my weight had been building up thanks to an ignorant attitude towards my eating routine and overall physical condition. I was really fed up (pun intended) with my diet and, to cure the problem, I simply changed it. Combined with the small amounts of workout I got a body fully capable of what I wanted it to be: swift running, climbing, jumping, walking, fighting, throwing, all of that stuff. Now, this is nothing new to anyone. Everyone knows, or at least should know, that diet and physical work are the two factors that ultimately shape the body. Anyhow now I see this change in lifestyle taught me a lot. Basically, when I wanted for more of myself, I asked more of myself. By simplifying/decreasing external resources I demanded my internal system to produce more effort. All one really ever needed was a will and a reason, whatever the goal (be it physical or not). "We are what we repeatedly do." -Aristotle
To this day, this method has helped me in developing not only my body, but also my mental condition, social skills and even spiritual life/faith (=overall health). "Less is more", as they say. And to those who are afraid they weigh too much: don't. Weight is really nothing. It's not about how much you weigh but how you look, now is it. For example, I myself am close to being overweight medically speaking, but with honesty I can say it is merely because of a strong frame.