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Self-Conscious About Sweating...

UpEarly
UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
edited September 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm a girl... shouldn't I 'glisten' or glow prettily when I workout? Instead I sweat like some crazy beast of burden, toiling somewhere close to the equator. I look like I've been dunked in a tub or caught in a downpour. Sweat literally pours off of my head and face (oddly, I don't sweat as much from other places on my body.) I don't think it's something that going to get better as my fitness level improves. I sweated as heavily when I was a competitive long-distance runner and I sweat just as much now, in my current chubby 39-year old form.

I always figured people noticed and thought "ewwww", but yesterday it was confirmed. I was finishing up the three steepest hills on my 5 mile route when I stopped to say 'hello' to a girl and her adorable 10-week old border collie puppy. She looked me up and down and said "WOW - you really sweat A LOT! Why?"

Ugh Ugh Ugh

I know there's nothing I can do to change the sweat, but it's so embarrassing and I'm so self conscious about it! There should be some kind of support group for profuse sweaters.

Replies

  • Jenscan
    Jenscan Posts: 694 Member
    I'll join the support group! OMG, I'm like a hippo on the freaking Equator. And it didn't get better when I was in super-good shape many years ago, either. I honestly think it's genetic; my dad does the same thing. It was SO EMBARRASSING in yoga class when all those cute little yoga girls were blotting little sweat beads off their foreheads and I looked like I'd just come out of a pool.

    So, I feel you, sistah. The sweat comes from these same places on me. :flowerforyou:
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    I'm glad it's not just me! SWEATERS UNITE!
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    Embrace your ultra sweatyness!

    Maybe it's different cause I'm a guy, but don't let the sweat bother you.
  • zeeeb
    zeeeb Posts: 805 Member
    my personal trainer said to me that it's good to sweat, it means your body is working effectively at cooling you down.

    i sweat a bucketload, and more now than I used to. it was like a tap, as soon as I started working harder (i reckon I never used to get past the point of working at about 75%, but once I reached the next level, the tap turned on, and now, as soon as my heart rate gets up, the sweat starts).

    And, yep, in the yoga classes i am the one towelling down numerous times, while everyone else doesn't even break a sweat. but I always do cardio before my yoga class, so my body is warm and working, and I find that if you do the poses properly, holding the correct internal muscles, you heat up, as opposed to many people who don't use the internal muscles at all.

    I don't feel bad about it. i don't exercise to look good, i don't exercise to show off my fashionable workout wear, i don't wear make up while i work out, i work out to work out, and if i don't sweat profusely, i know i just haven't worked hard enough.

    like they say in spin / cycle classes, if you aren't sweating on the floor, you really aren't working hard enough.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    Maybe it's different cause I'm a guy, but don't let the sweat bother you.

    I think it's definitely easier for a guy to be a heavy sweater! :-) Guys are supposed to be sweaty!
  • breezymom81
    breezymom81 Posts: 499 Member
    Hell no, the more I sweat the better I feel! I feel like it gives me power, I can do the hard work outs! And think of all the crap you are sweating out all that sodium and other crap I don't need!!!!
  • breezymom81
    breezymom81 Posts: 499 Member
    Embrace your ultra sweatyness!

    Maybe it's different cause I'm a guy, but don't let the sweat bother you.


    I embrace it and my husband tells me it sexy! Something about a good clean sweat, maybe it's because I am so energized after and feel good about my self when I 'm done!
  • jemmur
    jemmur Posts: 57 Member
    i've given up trying to look respectable while i'm running - i get really sweaty, i go a (not very) fetching shade of pink, my hair gets rebellious and i'm pretty sure my facial expressions and smudged makeup don't help the cause either!

    i don't really care if people recoil in horror though - if i'm working hard, why should i expect to look like i'm not?! and if anyone's daft enough to make fun of me, i just beam and think smug thoughts about them obviously not being very well acquainted with physically demanding work themselves :laugh:
  • beccarockslife
    beccarockslife Posts: 816 Member
    LOL! I'm a face sweater to, I always wear a vest and shorts no matter what the weather and I'm always bright pink by the end of a workout.

    Embrace it. Think of all the people not sweating as they sit on the couch! You are doing something positive and your sweat is a badge of honour.

    That and I find sweat bands (yes like from the 80s) on my wrists help keep my face pink but not fountain like.
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
    I'm not a crazy sweater but I'm a pink/red-face exerciser. Always have been b/c of my fair/pink completion, I've never been overweight and have worked out regularly for 7+ years so it’s not a matter of being out of shape. It happens and it's just something you deal with.

    In high-school after gym class tossing back on a uniform kind-of sucked but as an adult it doesn't stop me from heading to the mall after the gym. I toss on a hat and off I go, power walking through the mall… often unconsciously lol!
  • FullOfSpice
    FullOfSpice Posts: 176 Member
    I'm disgusting when I work out. I run about 4 miles a day and after each run I am drenched, which is a good feeling, but at the same time I am embarrased. The worst part is I get sweaty in my crotch, it looks like I pee'd myself. I just hope no one sees me as I'm going back to my apt looking like that...
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
    Oh, I know how embarrassing that is. It makes me not want to work out in a gym. I just pour buckets of sweat from everywhere. My face gets red as a tomato. It's mortifying b/c people are cruel and just don't understand that everyone's sweat glands work differently. I can't help but think it's better to sweat more b/c that means your body is doing its job of cooling off. It's the people that hardly sweat at all that need to be careful about overheating. But sweat has such a stigma.
  • jpooley1988
    jpooley1988 Posts: 119 Member
    I'm the same, I always have been even when I wasn't so overweight...

    It used to really make me embarrassed and self concious, but now I just feel who care what other people think! I'm doing this for myself and the more I sweat, the more weight I am losing, and more 'crap' is coming out of my body to detox it :)

    Who care what strangers think!!!!
  • dmoses
    dmoses Posts: 786 Member
    yea, being at goal weight doesn't have any influence on my sweat! i sweat profusely!!! even my eyebrows sweat... but i'm proud of it! i feel awesome when i'm sweating like that!!
  • Shizzman
    Shizzman Posts: 527 Member
    View it as a sign of your working hard! Plus as you get into better shape you'll realize it makes you look extra kickass working out! At least thats what I think as I get sweating in the gym during lifting...I think after running the sweat makes me feel like I did a good job on the run and that it should help cool me down (especially with a nice breeze)
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    even my eyebrows sweat.

    OMG - thank you for mentioning EYEBROW SWEAT! I totally have that, too! LOL
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    Everyone sweats! It's natural.
  • Loubell83
    Loubell83 Posts: 20
    Honestly, I sweat so much at the gym, and the worst of it is that it is only really on my face. Everywhere else sweats a normal amount.

    And to top it all off, I go the colour of a tomato. all heat in my body just rushes to my face.

    However, at least I know I have worked hard! And that the pounds are falling off because I am getting a good cardio workout.
  • fitnessjch
    fitnessjch Posts: 449 Member
    I am proud of my sweat coz it means I have worked my *kitten* off!

    Dont be self conscious, just go have a shower once completed, and you'll be back to your gorgeous self again!
  • Tic_Tac_Toe
    Tic_Tac_Toe Posts: 33
    I have been doing a spin class and I can feel the sweat pouring off my face & down my hair. It is gross! Especially when you can't towel off fast enough and it's getting in your mouth, lol. I feel like I look **** afterwards but I don't care. I'm not there to impress and I sweat a lot anyway.
  • RuthRW
    RuthRW Posts: 247 Member
    I've always looked like a potential heart attack victim while exercising!
    My head sweats more than any other part of my body, add that to a bright red face and it isn't surprising someone once stopped me years ago at a gym and said I needed to take a break. It was embarrassing.
    After over 10yrs of doing nothing now I exercise at home with the kids and after I am done with a workout my oldest says "Mommy, you are all wet - you must have worked hard".
    She's right and it feels great.
  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
    When I was younger I was more self-conscious about it. It became a big joke with me and my friends (still is) that I "sweat like a man". Now, I *LOVE* it. I've always been this way. I can literally walk onto the basketball court and start pouring the sweat.

    I'm with the other poster - embrace it!
This discussion has been closed.