Workout Inspiration

I saw a meme this morning that inspired my post for today.  The meme said "Making fun of a fat person at the gym is like making fun of a homeless person at a job fair.  Don't make fun of people that are trying to better themselves."  Now before you become the PC police and say that the proper word is "overweight" or something of the like, look at the sentiment of the phrase.  Don't focus on the word.....focus on the meaning of the phrase as a whole.  It really means something.

I, personally, am considered in the "normal" weight range but have ridden the lower end of that for most of my life.  Some of it might be genetics and some of it is the fact that I keep a very active lifestyle.  The truth of the matter, though, is that I'm very conscious of my health.  One side of my family struggles with obesity, diabetes, heart problems and other maladies.  The other side of my family has a strong line of Parkinson's disease, diabetes, hypothyroidism, and heart problems.  Frankly, I've spent most of my life trying to stay healthy to attempt to beat the odds.  Because I know these are things that my family struggles with, I am trying to avoid or delay these problems even starting rather than having to fight my way back once they do.

Because of my family's struggles, though, I am very conscious of how looked down upon overweight people are.  It breaks my heart.  People can be downright critical and mean.  They feel, somehow, that they have the right to judge someone because of their weight.  They don't know their story.  They don't know what their family history is.  They don't know whether they've just had a difficult pregnancy that had them on bed rest.  They don't know if they're struggling with hypothyroidism or trying to balance their diet with newly discovered diabetes.  No one knows what the story is but they feel like they have the right to criticize and assume.  You have no idea what someone's struggle is and a good, solid majority of overweight people are not intentionally making themselves so.

I have seen it in person at the gym....judgmental jerks that will whisper comments about overweight people trying to work out.  I've watched it in yoga classes as women mock the new overweight classmates who are not able to quite get into that position just yet.  It's disgusting....it's ugly and rude and I would love to be there when the karma bus comes back around to these assholes.  Why aren't we cheering on ANYONE who is new to the gym, regardless of weight?  ANYONE that wants to better their health is doing something awesome.  ANYONE that wants to seat and suffer the sore muscles and breathlessness of post-workout world has my vote.

So, "fat" (and I'm not fond of that word but I'm using it in reference to the meme's quote) people at the gym, you have my vote!  Keep on keeping on! You're kicking ass!  You're inspiring millions to do something better for themselves too!