I guess we will have to agree to disagree.
My point about us being our own worst critics is that the US is not the only nation with a major "weight problem". It afflicts the entire first world to some extent or another. The problem comes from a society where someone can live their entire life being mostly sedimentary , sitting in a car to drive, sitting in a cubical to work, sitting in
front of a TV or game box to relax. For an American the question isn't usually "will I get to eat" it's "what will I eat" and of course the simple fact that we have a massive array of choices when it comes to foodstuffs, pretty much anything in the world can be devoured in the US. It doesn't matter what someone eats, if they get next to no exercise.
Generally speaking there is more whining from Americans about our health issues than anything we hear elsewhere. Especially seeing as most nations are either looking at our lifestyles with envy (to some extent), or dealing with their own problems.
See, while other nations might have most of the same stuff as the US, there has been a lot of discussion there about American excess, including things like the number of cars, how many TVs and game decks people own, and similar things. Even in the rest of the first world few people live like we do, and are as heavily automated with a gadget to do nearly anything. The level of obesity generally (but not always) cooresponds to the technology in the hands of the people.
Lazy isn't really an issue because most people work, they just do it more intellecually. The US being a market/service based nation rather than an industrial power. Like it or not, most money and administration goes through the US (although ironically we're becoming more of a hub, as we're passing a lot of that off to other nations like India).
For the most part I don't see much of a "fat, lazy, American" stereotype other than coming from other Americans who seem to think that this is what the rest of the world would see as our stereotype.
My point being that I don't think it exists in use, I just don't. Just as many of the streotypes about Brits didn't come into being until after the sun finally set on the British empire.
I'm not saying you couldn't come up with a universal American stereotype, and I'm sure one will exist at some point. Just that's not out there. I think some people have tried to define one, but it hasn't in so far worked... and I've seen plenty of media from other countries.
