Originally Posted by
Dudelsack
I have a friend who is brilliant, absolutely brilliant (if you don't believe me, just ask him). He was an insatiable reader, devouring anything he could get his hands on, from molecular biology to metaphysics.
Now he just sits on his ass all day, playing with his iPad and watching NCIS reruns.
Whenever I think about him, I burst into tears.
That was me. I feel the pull of the couch. I never was inspired to exercise, even as a child. Nor was anyone else in my family. I didn't play on the monkey bars. I didn't play games with the other kids. I was clumsy and ineffectual. But I read everything. I read a book a day for years. I wasn't depressed. I just wasn't physical.
Sometimes, even often times, I just don't want to get up and move and it is so damn hard. And even when I do cycle a lot I nevertheless do not get very good at it. I am slow. Even when I ride 500or 600 mile months I remain slow.
To look at it as a question of willpower is circular. If you are active and maintain your weight you are considered to have willpower. If you are sedentary and overweight then the conclusion is you don't have will power. Maybe it is my nature. I had a lot of drive to accomplish a number of things in my life. But I still was fat and sedentary until I retired. Now I am neither and it wears me out to try to stay thin and fit.