[cercis]

Lazy? No. Americans work more hours than any other industrialized country. Which is probably a good part of the problem. We seem to have little time for leisure. Little time for leisure makes it hard to get out and exercise.

We work 50-60 hours/week and need time to just veg. Unfortunately, when you take the time to veg, you don't have time to exercise. It's something DH and I work very hard to prevent in ourselves. We refuse to take jobs that are going to require more than our stated hours. We allow ourselves time to veg, but make sure to take time to play with our kids and go bike riding, etc. But, we've given up a lot to do that. Our savings is very low (actually negative if you look at our cc debt). We both work for less than our full worth because that is the only way we can guarantee our hours.

Now, americans are getting larger. This is not only because of lack of exercise. It's also that it can be very difficult to eat. Finding foods that aren't refined to the point of not requiring any energy input from the body for digestion (okay that's a bit exaggerated, but you get my point) is a constant endeavor. Even "whole wheat" bread is pretty darned refined. Everything has high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener.

City planning has made it next to impossible to walk or bike to work. If you live somewhere without a public transportation system or sidewalks, you end up having no choice but to drive. Then you get the traffice and suddenly your 50-60 hour weeks get extended by 1-2 hours per day in commute (to go 10-20 miles).