Ever Witness Something Funny at the Gym??

AJCM

Helawat - I also (sometimes) find myself passing judgement (with the shopping carts), but I really try not to (but I agree, when children are involved, I get a little irritated, as I have two children, and we eat whole foods/organic most of the time).

I do encourage this friend of mine, but maybe Helawat, you are right, she might be using that as an excuse (my husband, who knows her, said that very thing - that maybe she just doesn't want to go!).... anyway...

Sleiber - I think the same thing!
:flowerforyou:

mbc83

Ugh...that is puke worthy for sure. Hand him a bottle of cleaner and paper towels and tell him to get to work. What and idiot.

My personal favorite comes in two types:

Type A- The guy who spend more time in the tanning bed than with the weights/cardio. These guys show up looking like a walking peice of beef jerky, and just walk around introducing themselves to every female in the gym. I never understood why my girlfriend liked female only gyms...until i met Type A.

Type B- The college age girl who walks into the gym and heads straight for the treadmill, and proceeds to have a 30 conversation on a cellphone while walking at the BRISK pace of 2 miles per hour. Someone needs to explain to these people that if you can talk on a phone for 30 min while exercising, YOU ARENT WORKING HARD ENOUGH. Plus, that is just annoying.

mbc83

I wish my car ran on methane! I'd never have to go to a filling station again!

I think i just puked a little......:yawn:

mbc83

I hope some of these posts don't deter self concious people from going to the gym.

I have a significantly over weight friend who is afraid to go the gym because she thinks people will judge her - from her form, to her outfits - I had always hoped that wasn't true.

:ohwell:

I know what you mean. I have a friend in town that wont go work out because he is about 80 pounds overweight and is too worried about what other people might think. I have never been in that situation, but if i was i would like to think that my health and happiness were more important than the opinion of people whom i will never see again and never cared about to begin with. I told him that if i were extremely overweight, the best place to be seen by these afore mentioned jerks IS IN THE GYM. At least there you are working to solve the problem.

I for one am much more appalled by those who regularly visit the gym for nothing more than social time.

TamTastic

It's funny you mention that because I recently decided that I'd rather be slim and poor than maintain/gain weight and not quite as poor

I admit that when I look in others' shopping carts, I judge them especially when their children are overweight etc. I recognize that I know nothing of their situation (thyroid, etc) but I can't help thinking things like "no wonder why your kids are so fat" and "put that tub of ice cream back in the freezer."

I try to not judge others too, but I can't help it and I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. Hopefully your friend will come to the gym and realize that judgment is not exclusive to the gym environment.

Unfortunately in this society, judgement is EVERYWHERE and obesity (or even chubbiness) is still an accepted form of discrimination. Yes, there are many people that got that way by being lazy and eating too much but there are also people that got there by not understanding how their bodies work or have a medical condition.

Anyway, I started this back in Sept at 270 lbs. At that time, of course I was self-conscious at the gym but I just kept telling myself "If people want to judge me...then so be it...I have as much a right to be here as the skinny people." And in fact, if an obese or overweight person can't feel comfortable at a GYM to be able to do something about that problem, then that saddens me. I just didn't let my ideas of what other's thought of me deter me from getting healthier. I just plugged my head phones into the tv on the elliptical and zoned out while I did my thing.

Also, I am trying very hard to be a good role model for my son as far as eating healthy goes and he eats anything I give him....chicken, sweet potato, veggies.....whatever. I give him an occasional treat but that's it. I do judge when I see what people give their children because in some cases, I view it almost as form of child abuse. For example, we were at the play area at a mall and there was a boy there...probably 3 years old who had to have been 4 times the weight he should be. He was HUGE. And then I hear his mom (who was actually VERY thin and fit), say "Come on, let's go get a soft pretzel!"....and I thought "Yeah, that's just what he needs!!"

I think it is human nature to judge sometimes...so don't beat yourself up for it. I guess we should all just try and make a conscious effort to put ourselves in each others shoes once in awhile.