Are fat people just lazy and make excuses?
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No. That is, not any more lazy than the general population. You may have some people who just aren't interested in losing weight but are productive in other areas of life. I wouldn't call them lazy. Then there are some people who are trying to lose weight but haven't figured out their formula to do so. (Hint: it's CICO, but we've all got to identify the techniques that work for us).
It's easy for people to look back after they succeed and say "well, obviously it was foolish to eat infinite low-fat foods" or "gosh, I can't believe I just let all of those midnight snack runs slide", thus "people who don't know everything I know now must be lazy". But before someone has that knowledge they can feel that they are doing everything possible and I don't think that's lazy.
I have seen so many people (on the forums and in real life) try to implement some 1,000 calorie restrictive "no gluten, no sugar, low carb, only eat red foods on Wednesdays, etc." diet. They go out to the store and spend a fortune on groceries. They come home and they spend hours prepping snacks and making meals. They wake up at 4am each day to go on a 5 mile run. They eat their pitiful and unsatisfying food. They get through an entire week (or two or a month) and aren't seeing the 5 lbs/week loss they were guaranteed. They're starving and frustrated and angry with themselves. They quit. I don't think that's remotely lazy. I'm shocked at their stamina in making it through 4 hours of that. Just thinking about some of the things people do makes me want to take a nap.
They just haven't figured out what works for them. For some people it takes time to figure out what will really work. And there's so much information and misinformation that even contemplating weight loss is a task in itself. Then there's the trial and error when you put it into practice.
I'm not sure why formerly fat people try to diminish their own efforts by pointing to overweight/obese people and saying "they're just lazy". Many of us had to go through a mental process to get to the point where we could start losing weight. That takes effort.9 -
I became fat because I loved food. I have always been mostly active since I walk everywhere instead if driving. (Locally) Some days I have walked up to 20 miles total.1
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I really like a lot of articles on Peter Attia's site. It was very helpful in understanding why I was starving after eating a meal and why I wasn't losing weight even on low calories with high energy expenditure. I have come to strongly understand his answer to this very question: http://eatingacademy.com/quick-faq#fat-lazy
I'd never been actually overweight before pregnancy. During those months, I'm sure I ate more sugar than in the previous 5 years combined. I knew a lot about nutrition, but I truly felt that only a few chocolates, bowls of ice cream or cheerios, or something greasy would quell the general malaise. Oh did I gain. Now, you may call that laziness or lack of discipline, but I can tell you now... given the same hormonal mix, I'd probably do it again. I *remember*. The cravings were real and I harbor no resentment toward my pregnant self. Cravings are stronger for some than others.
And after birth, I returned to lifting and running and ate a nice balance of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and protein. And dropped calories and absolutely nothing more than a few pounds came off. We checked my thyroid and all was fine. I got reassuring pats from my doctor who assured me that she didn't lose her last pounds until she stopped nursing. In the meantime, I trained for a half marathon, cut calories more... and continued to not lose. So there's one anecdote - among many more than others can tell, I'm sure - that doesn't support the fat = lazy equation.
And there are many other times in my life when I was trying to cut to more muscle definition and the calories in and calories out energy equation didn't work.
I'm 100% convinced that there's a lot more to fat composition than calories, exercise, and macro-level discipline.0 -
MynameisChester wrote: »snowflake930 wrote: »Simple answer. Same as any prejudice, it is wrong, unfair and ignorant.
I agree!
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In case some here forget, losing weight is mostly about eating less calories than you burn.
It is not necessary to exercise to lose weight. It is necessary to eat less calorie than you are burning to lose weight.
Prejudice, plain and simple. Shame on anyone who was once overweight condemning others as being lazy. Speak for yourself, not anyone else. Walk a mile in their shoes. You have no conception of what anyone else is going through. You did it, or are doing it. Great for you! Just try a little compassion for others not as impressive as you.7 -
when I was fat I was lazy and made excuses.
I can't lose weight
too tired to exercise
I am a smoker
nothing works
Same here, minus the smoker. Another trap I fell into was "my family is overweight, so it's heriditary and there's nothing I can do about it anyway." It didn't occur to me that we all liked eating..a lot.
So I've lost most of the weight, but I'm still lazy at times, haha.
As snowflake said, I also think it's an unfair prejudicial view.3 -
I wasn't lazy. I just had hobbies that made me sit a lot. And I like eating. A lot. So if I had some 'exercise' (ok that meant walking more than 10 minutes) I'd reward myself with more food.
Seriously, most of the overweight people I know are not lazy - they just like food too. And it's a vicious cycle because when you're heavy, exercise is much harder, so less enjoyable, so you're less likely to do it...8 -
I agree and think this whole thread is stupid. Isn't Myfitnesspal designed to be uplifting and helpful? So, why would you want to get on here and act like and jerk and assume that just because someone is overweight that they are lazy. I am overweight and I am not lazy at all. Do I work out all the time? No, but that doesn't mean I am lazy. I work a full time job, work in the yard, take care of a home, walk my dogs, go hiking, participate in a lot of things, but still I have battled with being overweight. So, instead of starting a judgmental thread, this person should have started a thread that maybe providing tips on weightloss. Just sayin...4
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I wasn't lazy...not on purpose, anyway, but being fat made activity very painful. I did, however, make lots and lots of excuses. "I'm eating what's 'normal' so it must be my metabolism." "My mom and aunt were always heavy so it's probably genetic." "I don't have the willpower to cut carbs/fat/fast food/salty snacks/demon food of the month, and therefore trying to adjust my diet is pointless."
Yes, I was lazy and making excuses. I just didn't realize it until I found MFP and CICO finally clicked. Now I don't mind admitting that I was a big fat idiot. But that's just me.2 -
How exactly do you define "lazy"? Is anyone here NOT lazy when it comes to working to obtain a Harvard PHD degree?
Give people a break, man. We are who we are and only we have to live with the consequence of our choice.6 -
Sometimes it's true. Sometimes someone will simply have excuse after excuse as to why (s)he can't exercise, or can't watch what (s)he eats, or some other such excuse.
Other times the overweight person simply doesn't know what really works and/or where to get started. (S)he has heard/seen/read too much BS regarding various fads that don't do anything.
Other times, there's a medical condition that hinders weight loss.
Procrastination and lack of weight loss education is what holds people from losing weight. Understanding how our body Works is essentially the tool one needs to shed pounds; one has to be motivated and have that drive and eagerness to reach their goal. Many of us have tried different diets; where they either gave up too soon or were overwhelmed not seeing quick weight loss results. Weight loss is something that happens with time. So are fat people lazy? Obese not fat people who have tried and have not seen success; is simply because they lack the tools to help them reach their weight loss goals. Average size people struggle with their weight for the same reason. What you eat, how often you eat and exercise, and intake water is will determine your weight loss.
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My husband is obese. He is highly educated, type A, successful, driven etc.. But he is a young type 2 diabetic because he is mentally lazy. You have to think and put work and change habits. It's not easy by any means. He knows all this. You can lead a horse to water but even the thirstiest kitten wont take a drink!3
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when I see the proliferation of electric shopping carts that were intended for use by the handicapped only being used by obese people, well yeah I think "they" are lazy. I also look at the items they are putting in their basket and trust me, they aren't trying to remedy their plight. That said, do I look at a "fat" person and think "lazy" no I do not.1
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I find intellectual laziness common, but I've started to see thinking as an exercise in it's own right. Thinking takes effort. If anyone truly believes obesity or being fat is always due to laziness, ironically, they are lazy. Intellectually lazy. But I'm too chilled these days to get worked up about it.6
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so I read the rest of the responses and mostly yes...people here who were fat or are currently losing admit it we were lazy and made excuses.
Lazy being not making the changes required to lose the weight.
You can work 60-80 hours a week and be lazy
You can have an immaculate house and be lazy
Lazy is defined as "unwilling to work or use energy."...
losing weight requires energy put forth into that area.6 -
You can't just lump all fat people into the same category saying they're lazy. That's like saying all thin people are active or all blondes are dizzy. Some people may be lazy and make excuses and some may not.6
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This is a tricky question to answer, but here's my personal experience:
I have PCOS, and losing weight is very difficult, even with proper medication. Since it was so difficult, I made excuses not to try. Some of the excuses were rooted in genuine concerns, such as finding time to exercise. Some of the excuses were because I just didn't want to get my butt up and moving, so yeah, laziness. Some excuses were a fear that I would fail. It wasn't until I decided that it was a priority (thereby removing the "I can't find the time" excuse, since we all know we FIND time for things that are important to us) that I began to have success.
So no, I don't think that's entirely true. Is laziness a contributing factor? For a lot of people it could be. But being overweight and trying to decide if it's worth losing the weight is a much more complicated issue than just laziness. There are emotional, psychological, mental, and physical issues that can all be wrapped up in this, and everyone is different in what issues they have and what motivates them to change.2 -
Someone's hating on SezxyStef and going around flagging her posts! I don't see anything wrong with the post above.
Anyway " Lazy is defined as "unwilling to work or use energy."..." is a poor definition.
At the least, people also need proper thinking and emotion in order to be willing to work, use energy.3 -
ChxSurf782 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Is she thin because she is high energy or is she thin because she seems to subsist primarily on coffee, alcohol, and smoking weed?
Alcohol is a depressant and overindulgence definitely hinders fat loss.
Smoking marijuana is mostly linked with being a depressant (and hallucinogen) and has no tangible effect on adipose tissue.
Coffee is likely not the cause for her being "high energy," as regular coffee drinkers develop a tolerance to the stimulating effect; this typically maintains a baseline of normalcy vice a noticeably "energetic" effect.
You misquoted, that wasn't me.
I was at my thinnest when I drank excessively, though, since I didn't care much about food at that time.0 -
Some people, sure. But generally, it's not that simple.1
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I am still fat but i am not lazy. I like to eat. I exercise 5 days a week. I continue to work at losing weight. I agree with the poster that said fat and thin people can be lazy11
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endlessfall16 wrote: »Someone's hating on SezxyStef and going around flagging her posts! I don't see anything wrong with the post above.
Anyway " Lazy is defined as "unwilling to work or use energy."..." is a poor definition.
At the least, people also need proper thinking and emotion in order to be willing to work, use energy.
Thank you.
I admitted when I was fat I was lazy on the first page. I had a very clean house, I went for walks, I cooked lots, tonnes of hobbies ad worked 60 hours a week...but I was lazy about weight loss. I wasn't willing to put forth the energy required to lose the weight...I would half *kitten* it...with WW, atkins etc. and when those didn't work that was an excuse.
I wanted to sit and scrapbook and eat chips instead of just scrapbooking.
I said to myself I can't get below XXX so why bother trying.
I said to myself...I can't take the time my son needs me (single mom)
I wasn't lazy in most aspects of my lift but I was about weight loss...lazy as a home soldier (as my mom would put it). I am glad I can admit that to myself now because I believe it almost guarantees that I won't be fat again...cause the potential is there...1 -
critterbug15 wrote: »I really like a lot of articles on Peter Attia's site. It was very helpful in understanding why I was starving after eating a meal and why I wasn't losing weight even on low calories with high energy expenditure. I have come to strongly understand his answer to this very question: http://eatingacademy.com/quick-faq#fat-lazy
To add, because I found the article I was thinking of that goes into greater detail... quoted below...
"...overweight people are not the lazy, constantly grazing, weak-willed individuals many in the mainstream have led us to believe. They just eat the wrong foods (rather than simply too much food).
Remember, I was one of those doctors in the mainstream once upon a time. While I always tried (and hopefully succeeded most of the time) to treat overweight patients with respect, I silently judged them. Why can’t you just eat less and exercise more? Only when I realized, despite my diet which rigorously adhered to formal recommendations and my 3 to 4 hours of exercise per day, that even I was getting too fat for comfort, did I begin to question the Conventional Wisdom of why we get fat. Of course, not everyone (fortunately) was born with my level of genetic susceptibility to insulin resistance (stated another way, not everyone is born with my level of carbohydrate sensitivity). In my experience, about 10-20% of the population (my lucky wife included) seem resistant to carbohydrates and maintain exquisite insulin sensitivity, almost independent of diet. Roughly 30-40% of the population are, conversely, very sensitive to carbohydrates and appear to be quite insulin resistant until nearly the last gram of sugar and most carbohydrates are removed from their diets. Then there is the rest of population, which includes me. To varying degrees, we’re somewhere between these two groups."
eatingacademy.com/nutrition/if-low-carb-eating-is-so-effective-why-are-people-still-overweight
One more quote from the article:
"Why is horizontal growth (i.e., obesity) different? I, and many others, argue that unregulated horizontal growth is also regulated by a hormone – insulin. In both cases – growing vertically or growing horizontally – the responsible hormone drives (literally induces) the person to eat more than they burn. The fellow on the left in the figure below (nearly 9 feet tall) ate a lot to get that tall, but he did not get that tall because of eating too much. He got that tall because he had too much of a certain hormone that drove him to over-eat relative to what he was able to burn. The medical establishment tells us the girl on the right got to be that size because she ate too much. Wrong. She ate too much (relative to her energy expenditure) because she had too much of a different hormone – insulin – driving her to eat too much."
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My girlfriend is 5'4" 240 lbs. The only exercise she gets is walking from her car to her desk at work. Then eats small portions of crap. I suggest we go for a bike ride or walk, or try to eat healthy, she hardly touches it. Claims she is trying everything.
Sorry, I do believe some people have more difficulty losing, but don't say you have tried everything when you have actually not.2 -
I can't speak for others but I was almost 50lbs overweight I was lazy and I did make a TON of excuses (too tired, it's late, I'll start tomorrow, it's raining, it's too hot, this is just what happens when you get older, etc).
All I needed was a little spark, I joined a biggest loser contest at work and my competitive spirit took over. I won that, got back to my high school size and ever since have been trying to gain weight (muscle). Now I still am lazy, but in different ways like when it comes to doing laundry or dishes...4 -
Some yes, some no. I saw a video that focused on an overweight woman who claimed she had a slow metabolism. They asked her to record what she ate and tested her after. She underreported quite a bit, only accounting for about half of her calories. When they tested her, told her metabolism was normal, she was shocked - admitted she can't use that excuse anymore.
I got fat because I overate and didn't do much, that's my excuse. I'm a lazy person, but became more active and dropped the weight. I didn't stop exercising when the weight stopped coming off because I came to actually enjoy working out. Reevaluated what I was doing and made the changes necessary to lose again, back at it!
@mkakids It was always a choice...food, no exercise, keeping the weight because I was happy with myself. Like you, I didn't complain, just bought bigger clothes and kept doing what I wanted. Others had a problem with my weight, my dad would occasionally get on my case saying that it's a lot harder to lose it when you get older. I wonder what I'd be like had I followed his advice 15 years ago, but I'm happy now.0 -
When I first started reading this thread I was worried it was going to go downhill fast. Glad it didn't. I like almost all of the replies so far. Good discussion, OP and I think a few posters have misread and think that either you or other posters were calling overweight people lazy, but that's not the case.
Some posters have confessed to being lazy whether overweight, thin, or somewhere in between. (Raises hand) Count me in that group. I'm lazy. My youngest son is lazy and gets mad at himself for putting off yardwork or laundry and I tell him sorry, you inherited that from me. He tells me I'm not lazy because my house is clean and I workout regularly, but I tell him I work hard to be lazy! I get up early on the weekends and lift at home so that I can be lazy the rest of the day and not feel guilty. I'm also one of those people who will carry ALL the grocery bags into the house in one trip because TWO trips is just too many.
Anyway, OP, when you hear those comments, what is your response? You say they make you said but how about politely responding to those comments with an educated response, such as those that have responded on this thread? Sounds to me the people who make those blanket statements could use a little info and education.1 -
ScottyT67203 wrote: »My girlfriend is 5'4" 240 lbs. The only exercise she gets is walking from her car to her desk at work. Then eats small portions of crap. I suggest we go for a bike ride or walk, or try to eat healthy, she hardly touches it. Claims she is trying everything.
Sorry, I do believe some people have more difficulty losing, but don't say you have tried everything when you have actually not.
Are you sticking by your gf? Kudos to you for doing so! Introduce her to MFP and show her the success stories.
Trying everything, and sticking with anything are two different things. Therein lies the problem for many of us. To me lazy is not the correct term. I do not now, nor have I ever, considered myself lazy. However, for years I bought into the myth that "it is hard to lose weight over 40", so consequently, I asked myself why try? Until I found MFP in 2012. Turned my weight issues around. Went from morbidly obese to a normal weight in 20 months and have been at a normal weight for over 2-1/2 years now. Lack of good motivation and hopelessness of the situation, may be construed as laziness by some. What a difference the positive motivation of the people of MFP have made in my life for the past 4 years. I am grateful.2 -
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found difficult; it has been found difficult and left untried” – G. K. Chesterton. The same could be said of CICO?2
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I don't know, has it occurred to people that maybe those fat people just don't care enough to bother? It's pretty presumptuous to assume that they are lazy and are making excuses... They're not making any excuses if they're happy the way they are, because there are no excuses to make - they just don't care.
It's presumptuous to assume that just because we care about our weight, others should too. I don't know about you, but when people think I'm 'making excuses' not to do something I just don't want to do, I find it rude. I'm not making any excuse, I just don't want to do it, period.7
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