I can totally relate to what you're saying. For a long time I used to make excuses about just exercising. It has been a serious problem for me, my fitness, and I was trying to motivate myself that I was comfortable with myself but deep down I wasn't. Once I started taking the action, those small steps, I began to notice how that change can impact me and how it affects my health and how it was able to improve it.
So it is not just about the physical, this also can be mental too. You even say people want what they don't have but don't want to work for it. This is the perfect description of humans. Even when you get to do something, if what you want to do is necessary, just do it. You just have to do it, that is life.
Mind, body and emotions are all part of the whole. When one is out of balance, the rest are out of balance also. There is an easy way to test it - just have a few alcoholic drinks - they go into the body, but affect mind and emotion too :)