This is just as serious an obsession as anorexia, bulimia, gambling, or alcoholism. Why? Because it is extreme. It is little more than just one more unhealthy manifestation of anxiety, which has to find an outlet. I have been down the extreme exercise road and in every way both understand the why and have paid the prices. Anxiety is the driver in so many of these obsessive behaviors. Without touching the source, we simply shift from one manifestation to the next, with no relief in sight. We end up doing more damage until the damage is permanent.