My mother is still alive, but I can relate. She just turned 60, but has the physical fitness of a rough 80. She is, of course, morbidly obese and being kept alive by modern medical science that keeps her hypertension, high cholesterol, and type II diabetes in check. Her life is pathetic as far as I can see. 90% of her time is spent sitting on her ass in front of the TV or computer. She has no hobbies or interests apart from eating. She always talks about the things she wants to do, but really can't because her health issues and lack of fitness hold her back (hiking and camping for example), or because she's too embarrassed about her size to do them (swimming at the beach for another example). We live near Orlando and she can't even spend a day at the theme park because it's too exhausting.

I ran my first ten mile race last month. Guess who didn't show up to cheer me on at the finish line like she said she would because the morning of she was "too tired". This is the kind of shit I got used to growing up. She constantly lets me down due to her extreme laziness and lack of motivation. Once when I was a kid we had to cut a Key West vacation short because mom was tired, bored, and wanted to go home. There was another family trip where we had to spend a day in the hotel because mom ate too much at a buffet and got sick. She spent all day on the toilet while we waited around. She's not a mean or unpleasant person, but she's just such a drag. All she ever wants to do is sit and eat. And, yeah, a big part of my motivation to get fit (no surprises here, I grew up overweight as well) was that I was afraid of turning into my mother.