Anybody else have a least one friend who NEVER exercises?

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workoutqueen628
workoutqueen628 Posts: 220
in Motivation and Support
Most of the people that I am friends with exercise on a regular basis, but one of my friends dislikes exercise and NEVER works out. I just don't understand people like her. She walks a lot, but not vigorously. Come on, you need to get in a good sweat! How does she not feel sluggish all the time? And she always uses the excuse that "she's not an athletic person." That's LAME. After watching the Biggest Loser, I have learned that anyone can become an athlete!! Does anyone else have friends like that? How do you motivate them to exercise?
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  • jenners22
    jenners22 Posts: 91
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    I have a best friend and a sister like that. If they workout with my once a month, they've met their quota. They were both my solid workout buddies for almost two whole weeks! I guess the only thing I can say is, they will not change unless they want to change. You can talk until you are blue in the face and you won't change them.

    If they start to complain about their weight, let that person know when you workout and tell them that they are welcome to join you.
  • rkascak
    rkascak Posts: 224 Member
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    o boy. most of my friends dont exercise at all!
  • McFatterton
    McFatterton Posts: 1,358 Member
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    I have lots of friends that don't exercise.....doesn't bother me one bit - how they choose to live their life and take care of themselves is their prerogative. However, I do have a friend that is VERY overweight and complains about her weight and how she should workout but when I offer to workout with her, she's always full of excuses....that's slightly annoying. To each his/her own.
  • StaceG1986
    StaceG1986 Posts: 350
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    Erm...I used to be that friend! Sounds just like I USED to be! lol

    Now I work out for at least 30/40mins a day, maybe even an hour or more, at least 6 days a week, and enjoy it!!

    I do have a lot of friends that don't exercise though!
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
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    If she walks a lot, she is working out. :)
  • jennylynn84
    jennylynn84 Posts: 659
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    My husband and I have been trying to drag some of his family members to the gym with us for ages. But they are not convincible. It's true that until someone is ready you can't force it.

    I was never an athlete or very active. Then I got on this site and started working out 5 times a week! And I LIKE it!

    But most of my non-exercising friends/family complain about their weight, try to find quick-fixes like some liquid diet fad thing that was going around, or want to take a pill or something. We invited her to the gym and all she wanted to know was if there was a sauna.

    I wanted to scream "No, we're going to work out!"

    It usually doesn't bother me what people do or do not choose to do, but since we have to hear the weight complaints all the time, it would be nice if she'd take up a gym invite at least once.
  • AKosky585
    AKosky585 Posts: 607 Member
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    I am the ONLY one out of my group of friends that exercises. lol. My fiance got on the treadmill today for the first time in a LONG time while I did the Shred. His goal is to do the treadmill every time I do the Shred video. :) Has to start somewhere.
  • Ashia1317
    Ashia1317 Posts: 415
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    How about a family member?

    It saddens me to watch him do nothing but lay in bed. I honestly think he's dealing with depression, but he just says he goes into "hibernation in the winter". Ok . . .whatever. It's his life, not mine. But all of his doctor visits, diabetes, heart disease can be solved very easily . . . . (and eating right!)
  • PrincessSweetOne
    PrincessSweetOne Posts: 10
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    I actually have two friends that never work out. They even joke about the weight they've gained and don't understand when I don't laugh too. Sometimes it gets hard to spend time with them, because I'm quite clear that I've cut out certain foods and I don't drink pop anymore, and one of them seems to go out of her way to push those kinds of food at me, and gets annoyed when I refuse.

    I've offered to work out with both of them before, but they each refuse, they say they don't see a point in going to the gym, or taking a dance class or doing an exercise video. Few weeks back when I told them how excited I was to have the clothes I'm wearing now be loose on me so I will have to get new clothes in the next month or so, they told me not to get rid of the clothes because I was fat once, and I'll get fat again. You can't ask people to take care of themselves if they have no interest in it.
  • hdelamore
    hdelamore Posts: 206 Member
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    My boyfriend never exercises
    and he's so skinny! his metabolism is sky high
    like today he had a foot long meatball mariana, chicken strippers and chips and now he's having a panini
    HOW AM I MEANT TO LOSE WEIGHT when he can eat all of them and make me look like an elephant next to him
  • springgrl
    springgrl Posts: 168 Member
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    I have lots of friends that don't exercise.....doesn't bother me one bit - how they choose to live their life and take care of themselves is their prerogative. However, I do have a friend that is VERY overweight and complains about her weight and how she should workout but when I offer to workout with her, she's always full of excuses....that's slightly annoying. To each his/her own.

    This irritates me on a higher level that just weight. Everyone complains about stuff sometimes but I am not sympathetic to people who complain about the same thing over and over but won't take practical steps to deal with the issue.
  • marjaskow
    marjaskow Posts: 81
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    I have friends like that & I to used to be one of those people. Actually I was watching the Biggest Loser a couple years ago & made the comment that if I had a trainer like that I could exercise too. I didn't realize that anyone was really listeneing and that year I got a gift cert. to go to a trainer for Christmas. It took til Feb for me to get up the nerve. The evaluation was embarrassing as I couldnt do one sit up or even 1 minute on the elliptical. Now 2 years later I have lost about 70 pounds and exercsie is actually fun. I still have quite a way to go. I never knew there were so many push up variations or crazy ways we can move our bodies, and we do them all. My daughters, both in their 20s, recently started working out with me & I am amazed at how their habits have changed too. You can't force anyone to exercise, but hopefully can be an inspiration as I have been to a few people so far and hope that by your example they see that exercise isn't just all boring stuff, but there are so many things to do that it can actually be fun. I still go to my trainer one day a week for the motivation. She's one of my best friends now. I do exercise on my own, but would never continue to push myself as she does. She knows what I am capable of and took me from doing nothing to increasing what I can do as she sees I can handle it. Once your friends do exercise & see that after a good workout and shower, how great they feel the rest of the day, hopefully it will become a good habit for them too.
  • Chantelle160
    Chantelle160 Posts: 127
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    Most of my friends do not exercise but still look great. Which is awesome all the power to them. If I could get away with being healthy and not exercising I would to. I blame it on the gene pool. lol. :wink:
  • kjensen15
    kjensen15 Posts: 398 Member
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    One of my best friends is like that. She is 26 years old, weighs close to 270lbs, and is 5'3". So she is in the obese category. She also LIVES on fast food and every day has a large Icee. It drives me crazy b/c I know her family has a history of heart disease and other health problems. She is probably the only one in my circle of friends that would be classified as obese and yet she is the one that does not care at all. I have tried several times to get her to come to my gym, telling her she could even just start out walking on the tread mill. A few months ago she shelled out $500 for several sessions with a trainer. She went to her initial consultation and one other appointment. Then she started avoiding the trainer's phone calls.


    My boyfriend gets on me all the time for letting it annoy me. He says it's her life and we can't change that. But he doesn't have to witness her break downs about how no guys like her b/c she's fat.....


    Very frustrating! Anyone have any good ideas on how to motivate someone like this??
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    I have at least one friend who is obese and is the absolute picture of "sedentary". The woman lives in a tiny town that is only a mile from end to end but will get into the car on a beautiful day to drive to church (less than a mile). It kind of becomes a cycle, though. She complains about her feet and her knees as the reason that she cannot walk, but fails to realize that even losing a fraction of the weight will help her knees/feet TREMENDOUSLY. I'm not very sympathetic. She likes to make excuses and isn't going to change just because other people tell her to move more.
  • McFatterton
    McFatterton Posts: 1,358 Member
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    This irritates me on a higher level that just weight. Everyone complains about stuff sometimes but I am not sympathetic to people who complain about the same thing over and over but won't take practical steps to deal with the issue.

    I'm with ya on that, that's why I don't ask her anymore and when she starts complaining I will blatantly tell her to do something about it and I don't want to hear it. :wink: I can only take pity on someone for so long before I lose patience.

    cute dog, by the way!
  • carrieberrie
    carrieberrie Posts: 356 Member
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    I HATE HATE HATE EXERCISING! I'm one of those people! I will walk about 2-4 miles a day but to lift a weight or run on a treadmill or do an elliptical forget, I rather get all my teeth pulled!
  • StephanieJ82
    StephanieJ82 Posts: 233
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    I actually have very few friends who exercise. And up until a few weeks ago neither did I. You can't push people. They have to come up with it on their own to make that change.
  • SherryRH
    SherryRH Posts: 810 Member
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    I have a friend that never exercises and then complains about how she looks and how tired she is all time, etc.... Then she complains about me. How I eat, how I look, etc. I just tell her I DO go to the gym so I can burn off the crap I eat and I look the way I look because I DO go to the gym. She still hasn't gotten it yet.
  • chrissyh
    chrissyh Posts: 8,235 Member
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    A year and half ago - I was that friend!!!!!

    Now I have lots of new friends from the gym that do workout. I've been encouraging my "old" friends to do something-just move! Love to try to motivate!

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