Re-Thinking The Concept Of Laziness

The Laziness Stereotype

Laziness is something that exists within our society and it’s important that we think about its roots. When it comes to laziness, many of us have our own thoughts and feelings. There’s often a large amount of guilt that comes along with feeling lazy, though it’s a topic that we don’t often talk about.

Clouded Judgment

In truth, the laziness stereotype only prevents us from digging deeper into the reasons why we may need rest.

In today’s society, we’re often encouraged to work overtime instead of taking time to rest. When it comes to health and fitness, rest is an important piece of the puzzle. It’s necessary to note that people are often put into the “lazy” category based on their weight.

Many of us often assume that every person can just lose weight as soon as they wish by eating less and moving more. And so when they appear overweight, we presuppose moral failure on their part, a lack of willpower. Reinforced by popular culture, the laziness stereotype closes our minds to other possible reasons and makes us impatient with obese people.

Beyond the Stereotype

However, weight loss and overcoming obesity is not as simple as it seems. It is not a matter of mere willpower. After training over 1,000 people and creating countless successful transformations, I can confirm that laziness is rarely the reason for obesity. In fact, each person has unique circumstances leading to obesity. For example, some people grew up in poor neighborhoods with plenty of cheap calories and rare nutrition. For others, the death of loved ones or heartbreaking events in life pushed them to turn to food for solace.

Laziness of the Mind

While laziness of the body is rarely responsible for obesity, there is a certain form of “laziness” that causes weight loss failure. It is laziness of the mind. For instance, some people are imprisoned by binge eating or excessive cardio. When these people are advised to stop such habitual practices, they respond with: “What? I can’t stop! I have always done it to lose weight!”

Consider the case of one of my clients (let us call him James) who drank at least 8 bottles of beer daily, resulting in overeating. When asked about his reasons for excessive drinking, he blamed his work. Encouragements to look deeper for other reasons for his overeating failed. His laziness, a biting form of fear, stifled his mind from a deeper search. It is this type of laziness that prevents us from trying new things or examining ourselves honestly which stops us from succeeding.

Overcoming Mental Laziness

Most of us are overweight because of deeper issues that may be less apparent to us. In our struggle to lose weight, we tend to concentrate on the most obvious causes and forget to delve deeper. Once we are set on routine exercises or get used to certain dietary practices, we resist change. We fear trying new things and abhor new challenges. However, if we want to succeed, we need to overcome this mental laziness. Going beyond our comfort zones can help us to discover what works and to honestly understand ourselves.

And when we finally overcome fear, we can conquer our fitness problems and lose weight seamlessly.