I really do not wish to receive hate mail for the following comments, they are simply my own observations.
I didn't really start to lose weight until I put in the "sweat" effort at least 6 days a week, most days 7. Nope, as far as I know, I don't have PCOS. I didn't even know what it was until I heard it mentioned here and researched it. However, I have one kidney, have early onset Parkinson's disease, had a stroke at age 46, had 2 subsequent brain surgeries, and have had several serious seizures, and spent the better part of 2 years in a wheelchair. I finally, finally decided that the way I was living was not really living and kicked my own butt.
I stopped making excuses for myself and became an athlete rather than a sick, tired old lady. It was never easy for even one minute but the rewards far outweigh the pain. I never thought for one minute that I could run a whole mile, much less many miles. Then I started watching "The Biggest Loser" and saw people 3 times as big as I was, running on the treadmill and seriously giving it their all in their attempts. Something broke through in my previous mentality and I realized all of the many, many excuses I had been making over the years for being so overweight. It was time for me to start a new life in so many ways. Truly challenging exercise releases endorphins into the brain that are far better than any anti-depressant I was ever prescribed. I am not talking about just moving my body every day either. I am talking about serious, difficult, drenched in sweat type activity. When people say to me, "oh I could never do that"-----I just smile and hope that someday they will come to the same decision for themselves. The human body is meant to be moved and challenged and EXERCISED.
I really do not wish to receive hate mail for the following comments, they are simply my own observations.
I didn't really start to lose weight until I put in the "sweat" effort at least 6 days a week, most days 7. Nope, as far as I know, I don't have PCOS. I didn't even know what it was until I heard it mentioned here and researched it. However, I have one kidney, have early onset Parkinson's disease, had a stroke at age 46, had 2 subsequent brain surgeries, and have had several serious seizures, and spent the better part of 2 years in a wheelchair. I finally, finally decided that the way I was living was not really living and kicked my own butt.
I stopped making excuses for myself and became an athlete rather than a sick, tired old lady. It was never easy for even one minute but the rewards far outweigh the pain. I never thought for one minute that I could run a whole mile, much less many miles. Then I started watching "The Biggest Loser" and saw people 3 times as big as I was, running on the treadmill and seriously giving it their all in their attempts. Something broke through in my previous mentality and I realized all of the many, many excuses I had been making over the years for being so overweight. It was time for me to start a new life in so many ways. Truly challenging exercise releases endorphins into the brain that are far better than any anti-depressant I was ever prescribed. I am not talking about just moving my body every day either. I am talking about serious, difficult, drenched in sweat type activity. When people say to me, "oh I could never do that"-----I just smile and hope that someday they will come to the same decision for themselves. The human body is meant to be moved and challenged and EXERCISED.
So agreeing with you. Not in relation to this thread but in relation to life!
I really do not wish to receive hate mail for the following comments, they are simply my own observations.
I didn't really start to lose weight until I put in the "sweat" effort at least 6 days a week, most days 7. Nope, as far as I know, I don't have PCOS. I didn't even know what it was until I heard it mentioned here and researched it. However, I have one kidney, have early onset Parkinson's disease, had a stroke at age 46, had 2 subsequent brain surgeries, and have had several serious seizures, and spent the better part of 2 years in a wheelchair. I finally, finally decided that the way I was living was not really living and kicked my own butt.
I stopped making excuses for myself and became an athlete rather than a sick, tired old lady. It was never easy for even one minute but the rewards far outweigh the pain. I never thought for one minute that I could run a whole mile, much less many miles. Then I started watching "The Biggest Loser" and saw people 3 times as big as I was, running on the treadmill and seriously giving it their all in their attempts. Something broke through in my previous mentality and I realized all of the many, many excuses I had been making over the years for being so overweight. It was time for me to start a new life in so many ways. Truly challenging exercise releases endorphins into the brain that are far better than any anti-depressant I was ever prescribed. I am not talking about just moving my body every day either. I am talking about serious, difficult, drenched in sweat type activity. When people say to me, "oh I could never do that"-----I just smile and hope that someday they will come to the same decision for themselves. The human body is meant to be moved and challenged and EXERCISED.
This post rings so true to me as well. This is just how i need to live my life period.
I exercise about 9 hours a week. 3 hours in spinning class, 3 hours in hard pilates classes, 2 hours of dance, and I cycle about 1-2 hours on the weekend.
Doing all that exercise hasn't made me lose any weight any faster. Does it help my shape? Yes! Does it help my insulin resistance? Somewhat! Does it make me feel good and take away stress? Yes! Do I have fun doing it? Yes!
But in the last 10 weeks, I've lost 4 lbs. That's less than a 1/2 lb a week!
Moving around doesn't help me lose weight. It helps me with other things, like my cardiovascular health, maintaining my insulin resistance low, helping me with stress, helping me focus on some fitness goal (riding a century, for example).
But it doesn't help weight loss.
What has helped my weight is watching my diet. That isn't a question of laziness. That's a question of figuring out what works for my body in terms of food. It means reading and understanding about my own body and it's limitations and how I can work in the best food for it.
But what I'm coming to terms with is that I will never bee the type of person who just has to "move more" (and not be lazy) in order to lose weight.
I have to watch what I put in my mouth. It's not just calories in and calories out. I have to make sure my ratio of carbs vs proteins is the right one and I'm taking the pills that make my IR manageable.
In fact, I wonder if I could lose more weight by not exercise and just focusing on my food. When I don't exercise, I can easily eat 1200 and not feel hungry. All the exercising that I do does make me feel hungrier.
I eat 1500 a day because I want to exercise and be fit and fit into smaller clothes than what I would otherwise. (I'm almost 170 lbs and I have a size 8 pencil skirt!)
Location: I live at home with my fiance and 3 children. LOL
Posts: 36
S/C/G: 220/*see ticker*/120
Height: 5'-1"
Why is the word lazy such a taboo thing? I mean it exists. Plain and simple. I may get blasted for this, but I think we all need to look inward and really figure out why our bodies have revolted against us with the fat. I think it's definitely different for everyone. For example - subject A weighs 200 pounds and subject B weighs 200 pounds. Both start a strict excercise regimen. One loses while the other stays nearly the same. Are either being lazy then? No, but the one who is losing the weight may have had a problem being lazy while subject B may have underlying factors that have absolutely NOTHING to do with laziness. So, for some, like ME the word lazy is an ugly little demon on my shoulder that I have to exorcize from myself. There is nothing wrong with figuring that out about yourself. Just sayin....
I think I have a fear of laziness. I have a hard time JUST sitting and watching TV. I always feel the need to be DOING SOMETHING while watching TV - playing on the computer, crafts, number/word puzzles - SOMETHING.
In my 20's I worked full time, went to grad school, exercised regularly, entertained friends nearly every weekend, and tried to start my own candle business on the side. (all at the same time)
Now, I am 32, I work full time, have a 2 year old, a husband, own a house, exercise regularly, cook dinner regularly, maintain an active social/family life and have decided to train for a triathlon.
Yet... I am still obese. I am not obese b/c I am lazy, I am obese because I am an emotional eater. I eat my emotions. I am learning how to handle my emotions in other ways. "Everyone" says it is 80% diet and 20% exercise. For me it is about 95% exercise and 5% diet.
Exercising:
1.) Takes up time I could be eating
2.) Makes me feel good about myself
3.) Stabalizes my moods
4.) Causes me to crave fruits/veggies and lean proteins that fuel my body rather than garbage that would drag me down and make exercising harder
5.) Lessens my desire for booze
6.) Makes my clothes fit better even if I am not losing weight
But for other people - exercise isn't something they want to do, are able to do, or find helpful.
I'm late to jump in on this thread, and I'm going to go back and read the discussion so I might chime in on that too, but...
I'd say I'm a lazy person. Maybe "lazy" isn't the right word, more like...inclined to be sedentary. I am perfectly content, thrilled even, to sit on the couch all day. Reading, watching TV/movies, on the internet, talking with friends, etc. I can spend hours on my butt. Sure, sometimes I get bored, and I do want to be stimulated somehow, and thus I get up and do something to occupy myself. But I never get that itch in my feet to move move move like some people do. I'm a hard worker, have a good work ethic when it comes to studying etc, I love to learn and challenge myself intellectually. But when it comes right down to it, yeah, I'd rather sit on my butt than go for a jog.
I think I got overweight more as a result of my eating than being lazy because I have always been moderately active just by walking and moving around with a decently busy life. So I'd say I'm more guilty of gluttony than laziness. I do hike/walk for pleasure, ride horses, walk around the mall for hours with friends, walked to class or work, etc. I just ate way too much and it was all junk. I have no underlying health issues that would affect my weight, I simply ate more than I burned.
I will say though that the more overweight I got, the lower my self esteem got, and the less motivated I was to get out and enjoy the world. Somebody else was brave enough to admit it, so I will be too...sometimes I did get lazy about personal hygiene. Like on the weekends when I was in college and everyone else was out enjoying themselves, I just didn't have the self esteem to go out with everyone. So I sat on the couch alone all weekend (eating the boredom away, of course). And really, why bother to take a shower or brush my teeth at that point. I wasn't the proverbial fat stinky person, but I was just so ashamed of myself and didn't feel that my body was worth loving. I didn't take care of it with food, why should I bother to clean myself up either? It was just another result of all the self-loathing I was doing.
So yes, I suppose one could call me lazy in some aspects, and my fatness was a result of my laziness and my laziness was a result of my fatness.
Totally agree that it's different for everyone. I don't know why there seems to be an active desire to label fat as equivalent to lazy even in this thread; why on earth would it be important to prove that fat people are lazy? If you (the general "you," not to anyone specific) believe that, feel free, but don't insist that others must accept it as fact when it's still very much an opinion.
I'm lazy. I'm also fat. While I believe there's a causal relationship in MY case, I'm not about to assert that it's so for everyone who's carrying extra fat. I don't look at a fat person and think, "Wow, clearly a lazy slob" any more than I attribute the virtue of industriousness to the thin. I'm plenty judgmental--but it's based on behavior, not on appearance.
I admire the **** out of people who better themselves in any way. Milmin, you know I think you're awesome--you are the antithesis of lazy and you look amazing. But I don't see how admiring Milmin's accomplishments translates (for some) into looking at someone who has not made that visible transformation and judging them as lazy. Some transformations aren't as visible, and the woman who has worked her way from grinding poverty to running her own business is also admirable--whether she weighs 120 pounds or three times that.
Figure out what makes YOU the size you are, understand it, and work to change it however you can, but please don't assume that someone else who wears your old pant size does so because they just haven't tried hard enough. It might be true, but it might well be otherwise.
Of course, if it's ME you're talking about, yeah, assume I'm lazy because I've already copped to it. I freely accept your disapproval of my lazy, lazy ways and will raise a glass to your continued good health as I lie here and read a good book.
Yep....I see a trend here....lots of "yep, I'm lazy".
Hard not to make some type of comparison. ***runs and hides***
First, I'm not picking on you at all. I've enjoyed your posts on this thread very much and agree with many points. Just thought this was cute and pulled it to jump off.
You know, I hope if people get nothing else from this thread the message that stereotypes are never ok is heard loud and clear.
Whenever I am interested in a particular thread, I read every single comment. I so enjoy reading everyone's input. All of your writing styles and the way everyone here expresses themselves truly impresses me.
When I started this thread it was to question whether other overweight or previously overweight people also felt that laziness contributed to their gain. I also was wanting to find out if laziness was kind of a taboo subject when mentioned in conjunction with being overweight.
I didn't really specify whether I meant physical laziness or mental laziness or both. For me, it was both mental and physical. I mean, seriously, it has become so easy to be lazy. It can be a very difficult undertaking to fight how easy everything is and work for something. When I walk out on the front porch to go to the post office, which is 2 miles from my home, I see my car, my bike, and look down and see my 2 feet. All of those ways will get me to the PO with increasing degrees of difficulty. When I was overweight, I wouldn't have even thought about the options of getting there, other than my car. It was completely automatic. Get in the car. Drive. Pick up mail. Go home. Now, just the simple thought process is more involved and takes up more time as I argue with myself, bike, feet, car? bike, feet, car?
I truly wish I could explain what I am thinking/feeling in a more eloquent way. I am no writer, as you can tell. I do not think that every overweight person is lazy. Even if they are lazy, so what? The guy who was lazy, slept too long, and missed the voyage of the Titantic lived to see another day. There are advantages and disadvantages to almost everything. The advantage for me in realizing how truly lazy I was is that I was able to correct it and begin living again. Thank goodness.
Last edited by milmin2043; 03-12-2011 at 01:31 AM.
