to ask you not to stare at me in the gym?

[Bogeyface]

To the young smug skinnies,

I know I am a size 16, I know I do get very red and sweaty when I am training and I am sure that the sight of my flabby arse is not particularly pleasant. But thats why I use the small room out of the way.

Being a skinny size 8 and being able to run 10 miles without breaking a sweat is impressive, but there is no need to keep looking at me with such a disgusted expression on your face and discussing me with your mates. I am going to the gym because I dont want to look like this anymore!

Give it twenty years til you are my age and have 6 kids like I have and then lets see how smug you are. I was a size 8 when I was 21 too! I just felt like utter shit today, so thank you very fucking much for that, but you wont stop me going back if only because now I need to prove a point!

Oh and for the record, if you are going to try and be sneaky, shooting filthy looks at people etc, make sure you are not in a room with a full mirrored wall, if you can see me then I can see you, dumbass

[HowLongTillBedtime]

Arseholes ! I am a gym fatty and thankfully I have never noticed any of this . We don't have many mirrors though so maybe that's why .

Fuck em and well done done keeping going .

[dontcallmemam]

Bogey are you sure these skinny minnies aren't just short sighted & too vain to wear their specs in the gym? I've been accused of staring not in the gym because I'm too lazy when I haven't got my lenses in.

If not ignore them, they may be super fit but they don't have manners.
You will be super fit & polite.

[VerityWaves]

Screw them..
Good on you for not letting it get to you. V stupid of them silly girls..

[YouTheCat]

Bogey, they are twats.

I'm a size 20 and don't get any of that at the gym (or I just haven't noticed).

You need the collective wisdom of MN to think of witty putdowns.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Perhaps they are just fixing their gaze while focussing.
If not, smile at them.

Best way to disarm them.

[MysticMugBug]

what wankers, I hate an environment like that

[BarbarianMum]

Wow what gym do you go to. At mine people tend to look through you not at you (and I'm a size 18 so that takes some doing).

[Bogeyface]

Smile? I could barely fucking breathe at one point :o

I know you're right, but for some reason it really pissed me off today. I think it might be peculiar to that gym because I have noticed it before and not just aimed at me. It seems that you are not allowed to be fat and try to do something about it!

[creampie]

I'm probably guilty of this

I genuinely don't mean to stare. Inside I'm thinking "bloody good for you". I quite admire people who do this, despite knowing the potential reception they might get.

I never know whether to say, a proverbial "hats off" or whether they'd consider that patronising. By the time I decide, it's usually too late to seem natural IYSWIM.

[MammaTJ]

I am a size 26 and go to the gym.

Every person there is there to be the fittest they can be, some are just further along that road than others.

Ignore them or use your anger with them to make you work harder.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

It sounds like you have the sense of humour they lack Bogey.
And sense of humour improves with age, whereas a tiny silhouette generally doesn't!

Smile, because you know what they don't -yet!!!

[ShakeYourTailFeathers]

Fuckers...they'll learn...it'll come to them, don't worry. Karma's a bitch.

on my FB today my mate posted a pic saying "I'm not fat, I'm just easy to see"

[SquigglySquid]

Are you sure they're judging you instead of just idly watching you? I've done this a few times. Just watched a person because they were there, and then realized I was actually staring and making them uncomfortable.

I also break the treadmill rule and grab the one next to a person already there when there's a room of empty exercise machines.

[littleSpud]

Aw op sorry people were being mean to you

[DottyDot]

I'm a size 20 and doing C25K at the gym so am there every other day at the moment huffing and puffing on the treadmill and going impressively puce! But I'd rather do that than brave the great outdoors - at least we're all trying to do the same thing at the gym - get fitter - and no-one seems to look at anyone in particular kind of way because they're all huffing and puffing too - but if I have to run outside I worry I'll be subject to way more judging...

Maybe they're not giving you dirty look, but just doing strange gym faces like I do due to being out of breath/knackered?

[WannabeMrsJoshHomme]

what the fuuuck, how skewed is their attitude towards health and fitness? Ignore the idiots, I see plenty of red, sweaty people in the gym of all shapes and sizes (and I include myself in that!).

[Nomama]

Get your fat arse out of the little side room... exercise in the usual room.

Chances are it isn't your humongously fat body they are looking at but the machinery that they want to use in relative privacy, but this other woman keeps on using - that's you that is, hogging the 'special room'.

As for the other fat looks other fat women get, well, you must have been looking too, or you wouldn't have noticed.

Seriously, fuck 'em. Smile and wave next time (if you can get a hand off the machine)

[SquigglySquid]

Or maybe they have Bitchy Resting Face syndrome.

[SquigglySquid]

[maras2]

Nasty wagons.Hope that the plague of the saggy pelvic floor gets them. < eventually >.:)

[Minnieisthedevilmouse]

Thing is fitness is not necessarily anything to with size. 1m presently an 18. I can't run anymore although I have done London marathon at this size.

However if you encountered my right hook and left upper cut you might realise I'm a darned sight stronger than you think I am. After you pick your jaw and teeth up off the floor... :)

Weights are good :)

[Sleeptimenow]

Size 16 is nothing, I've been a size 22 sweating and wobbling away on the cross trainer. I got the stares too, but found that if I took my specs off I didn't notice so much! (Although made watching the tv more difficult).

Smile and ignore, I never had the breath for a witty response. The wobble finds us all eventually.....

[OnlyLovers]

Fuck em.

[monsterowl]

If they are staring disapprovingly at you simply because of your size, then they are rude morons. But they might not be. If they're into exercise they might just be interested in what other people do at the gym. Or they might be impressed by your efforts (did you see this 'fatty on the track' thing a few months ago? www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/10/to-the-fatty-running-on-the-track_n_4935194.html - possibly a bit patronising but can't deny the author's heart is in the right place).

Also, people, please don't assume that skinny=bitchy/bad!

[McBear]

Are you sure they are looking down their noses?

I go to the gym. I'm not fat technically but I'm certainly not skinny. I see a lot of larger people at the gym and I do look at them. Inside I'm thinking ' good on you, you are really putting effort in to lose that weight. I respect that and if I wouldn't look like a crazy person I'd come and give you a big well done ' but I have a very miserable face that doesn't represent my feelings. Could that be it?

The only time I've ever laughed at someone at the gym is when a guy was on the cross trainer and he suddenly started doing dramatic arm movements.

I've been laughed at by a group of men when I jogged on a treadmill sans sports bra...