That skinny girl at the gym...............

Have you ever been working out and you look over and there's some skinny girl next to ya just going as fast as she can on the elliptical or treadmill. I wonder to myself...come on...are you just here so that your string bikini will look just a wee bit better.   I admit I have thought this BUT today I had another thought!! I thought maybe she's lost 75 pounds! Maybe she used to be one of us! Maybe she was a size 18 and now she is a size 4!  I know we each are our own size, but this really motivated my thinking and I just thought it was worth sharing. :)

yup.. i agree with you!  i have never had a problem with the skinny gals at the gym who are working out hard..  because i figure one day i'll be that skinny girl at the gym working my butt off.. and i hope that no one thinks negative things about me at that time.. :)  becase this work out thing is a thing for life for me!  :)

I've had girl give me judging glares.

Not that I'm skinny, but I'm very fit.

What they don't realise is I am trying to be the healthiest I can be. GOTTA KEEP THAT HEART IN GOOD SHAPE RIGHT!

I'm that crazy chick on the treadmill, trying to get the most out of my workout. Most of the time it's because I need to squeeze in the workout, and I don't have time to lolly-gag.

And I've thought that too. Some girls who are thin and perfectly toned often make me envious, but it is inspiring. Even if they weren't fat before, they're still leading a healthy lifestyle and I admire that, and wish to emulate that discipline. Sort of motivational. :)

I am the same way...but being a guy, when I see a dude who is in better shape than me, it just motivates me to get to where I want to go that much faster.  The day I stop seeing people in better condition than me is the day I go to another gym!

-Todd

i tend not to look around and just go for it. I dont look at anyone else, and one girl at the gym who is skinny who i do see a lot motivates me to not go below a size 8 uk...so accully, 'Skinny' people at the gym remind me im good the way i am, uniquie. with a bum and boobs. Not a strightlined thing. So i exercise to be happy, not to look like a rake :)

I spend a good portion of my elliptical time making stories up about the other people at the gym.  My two favorites are:

1- The Multitasker - This is a small athletic blonde woman - late 30's early 40's.  She goes full speed ahead on the elliptical while chatting on her cell and occasionally sending text messages on her blackberry. I'm betting she knows karate and makes all her meals from scratch.  She scares me.

2- The Cheerleader - (I'm working on a better name) This girl is BEAUTIFUL and always has the perfect perky ponytail.  She drinks sugarfree red bulls during her workout and glistens.  She's a bully at work but is secretly an emotional wreck. 

Kelly, your very pretty. Sorry had to mention it!

I agree with you guys. It motivates me.

Kellywood- You are too funny! You should be a writer!

ohhhhh I so relate to this.  There I am, slugging along all sweaty and greasy and along comes this supermodel!!  I can't help it, I hate her.  She somehow manages to look cute even while sweating.  She never breathes hard.  Who looks that cute in a ponytail???  Let's never forget the perfect matched workout gear ...

Kelly - my supermodel blonde is always a multi-tasker.  And she DOES scare me, too!!!   ;p

You know...most of you are going to be the skinny girl at the gym some day, you know that right?

Give her a break...maybe she lost 100 lbs and wants to keep it off ;-)  I'm sure if a stranger saw any of us at the gym, they'd wonder WHY...if only they knew.

I think that when we look at a person and make those assumptions about them what we are really doing is projecting....    we learn more about ourselves than that blank canvas that we are using to put our own expectations, attitudes, etc.. onto..

I know that if something about another person drives me crazy, that is the very thing I hate about myself..  just dont want to admit it...  and invariably if I get to know that skinny gal I learn things about her that make me ashamed of what I thought.. 

Well said, kai.  I know a lot of people think that girl is naturally skinny and she's dying to lose that one last lb...but maybe she was overweight at one point and worked hard to get it off.  Or maybe she just REALLY likes working out.  Believe it or not, some people enjoy that torture :-P

Haha...I think we killed the thread with compassion.  Sorry everyone :)

darn fw.. I hate when I do that...  its sooooo difficult being a saint... :-P

She could also just be trying to maintain that figure... she didn't have to be overweight to begin with...

I guess this just hits a little close to home.  I was never actually 'overweight', just at the top end of the healthy BMI range for the last 2 years.  I want to get to the weight I used to be at and keep myself there... I used to be the skinny girl, but I was eating junk and not hanging out at the gym, so I got chubbier than I should be.  I kinda admire that skinny girl for knowing what she's got to do to keep her figure, ya know?

But all that being said... yeah, it can be frustrating sometimes, that's for sure. =)

I am dying to jump in on this one.  Two schools of thought:

1. I am the fit girl.  I see women I wish to emulate and it pushes me harder.  Last Oct I noticed a girl at my gym who would run like a MADWOMAN.  She wasn't "skinny", but fit as hell.  I would go on a Saturday morning and she'd seriously be running on that damn treadmill for like 90 minute stretches.  Know what?  One day my trainer pointed it out while he was working with me about how long she'd been running on that thing and called her the Running Nazi.  I told him "I can do that", very matter of factly.  Though I never had run NEAR that in one setting.  I had yet to run 45 minutes all in one.  I worked up to it- 60, then 90.....and by JANUARY I completed 13.1 miles on a gym treadmill on a Saturday morning right in front of her and all of the other regulars. I did it to prove to myself that I could be just as fit as she was.  I thank her often, though she doesn't even know it.  .....she asked me if I'd be running in the April 1st 1/2 marathon (06), and I told her I was already scheduled, which I was.  ......and guess what?  I raced that race and she never showed up.  In fact, she never shows at the gym anymore. But I still silently thank her for making me work harder, without even knowing it.

2. Did you all ever stop and also think......maybe, just maybe there is someone else in the gym who thinks the same thing about YOU?   That YOU are the driven and hard-working exerciser who they hope to someday be like?  If you think it of others, I BET there is someone else thinking it about you!!!  :-) Nice food for thought, huh?

~Susan

You know what? I really really like the way you look at this topic. I used to dislike every skinny girl very much but know my thinking changed. Now i just don´t like the girls who eat like no tomorrow- and are still a size 0! Everybody who does something for their body get´s my whole admiration and respect!

Original Post by shizzy:

I've had girl give me judging glares.

Not that I'm skinny, but I'm very fit.

What they don't realise is I am trying to be the healthiest I can be. GOTTA KEEP THAT HEART IN GOOD SHAPE RIGHT!

 

Haha well, I'm hating on you. You're the same height as me, yet I weight less, and you look way more fit and awesome! That is not fair =O Hehe envious

Sorry, had to put that out there.

Heres a different skew on that skinny girl....

I was at the gym yesterday, doing a fairly intense workout on the treadmill, I'm on speed 6 at 7 incline...sweating like a horse, face like a beetroot. (I burnt 380 cals by the end.) Then a skinny girl starts up next to me.....she sets it to 4.3....0.5 incline.....and does the lamest workout I've ever seen! It couldn't even be considered a moderate walk it was so slow. So I look around and notice I was doing the most intense workout out of everyone, yet they were all far skinnier than me (I'm 220lbs)

How could that possibly keep them in shape? I wonder how she felt looking over and seeing a 'fat' girl going at it harder than her?

The amount of judging in this thread boggles my mind. You don't want to be judged for your weight, so why are you judging a smaller person based on her weight?

 

 

Just too add my opinion to this....I'm not exactly gorgeous and not the skinniest person up in the gym (but I am pretty skinny).  I go like a bat outta hell when I'm in there and probably get judged by a few on occasion.  Little do they know 5 years ago my heart went into failure and I almost had a massive heart attack at the ripe ol age of 23.  I do it too keep the my poor little ticker going and not so much to keep my looks.  I am a woman though and a 5-8 lb weighloss is always in the back of my mind but certainly not priority.  So I'm sure there are many others out there doing it too stay healthy and to live nice long lives! :-)