Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Worst Personal Trainer

Not mine (I can't afford one). I was at the gym when these two guys got on the treadmills next to me. "Get on and put it to 5, do that for a minute." "Okay, now put it on 2." 1 minute later...."Put it on 5 for 3 minutes...you're not getting tired, are you?" I was so annoyed with this guy. His client was an obese black young man...not unlike some of the kids we see in preventative cardiovascular clinic, who was clearly starting to work out in an effort to lose weight. But, he was being talked to as if he was inferior...inferior because of his weight. And then the worst thing happened. Two other black guys came to the gym and I guess recognized their friend trying to exercise, and were laughing at him and taunting him...

I was SO TEMPTED to go to the front desk to complain about those guys. I'm sorry that not everyone at the gym has a normal BMI. But the gym is not a place for people trying to lose weight or get fit to be bullied by others. And if you actually cared about your friend or family member, you would learn how to be supportive and not condescending and AT THE LEAST, not a bully to them.

As someone who works in an area where we see the beginning of obesity, I have zero tolerance for people that do not help the problem and only make it worse. Thin people are not morally superior to fat people. Fat people struggle with so many things, the most superficial of which is food intake. And finally, perhaps learned best from Glee, we all have insecurities and things we hate about ourselves. Fat people are an easy target. Let's all do our part to take our words and jokes seriously and stop the bullying on fat people.

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