Skinny Girls Need Love Too

The other day I went to the grocery store right after the gym. The grocery store is about a 2 minute drive from the gym and I had been on the treadmill for an hour, so I was still soaking wet while browsing through the produce section. This older lady says to me "You've been exercising haven't you?" I tell her I have and she says she could tell because I was wet and my cheeks were still pink. You're point? I'm sorry to sound mean, but duh. That's ok though, she seemed to mean well. She proceeds to give me the whole good girl encouragement speech. I wouldn't have been entirely shocked if she had patted my head (she probably just didn't want to get her hand sweaty). I do not mind this. I think it is a good thing to encourage people for doing healthy things and I could tell very well that she meant it to be nice, friendly, and helpful. I understand that some people would be annoyed by this and think she had no business getting into something so "personal" with me. I don't feel that way and I don't consider my fitness goals or what I am doing to get there to be all that personal. What irks me though is that she probably would not have said anything to some skinny chick even if the skinny chick had been just as obviously straight out of the gym. Why? Why are so many people like that? It is true of those who mean well and those who don't. I appreciate the encouragement, but just because I'm still chubby doesn't mean I need more encouragement than a skinny person. As for those who don't mean well, just because I'm chubby doesn't give them the right.

I'm going to use my husband as an example here, I love you honey. He is skinny and he looks quite fit. He even is decently fit, but he could do better and he needs to do so for his job. (Just to make it clear, he does not need to do better for me, other than not wanting him to die early, I do not care if he is a couch potato, a gym rat, or anything in between because none of that would change the parts of him that I love.) If my hubby had left the gym and gone grocery shopping all sweaty the lady almost certainly would not have said a word to him. He needs much more encouragement than me. I know that because I know him. I know that he doesn't go to the gym unless either his job forces him to or I go with him. I on the other hand work out 6 days per week with or without encouragement. She would assume that he didn't need the encouragement though, and that I did, because of what we look like. How is that right? People don't even just do this with strangers, they do it with their friends, with their families, with their co-workers. Why? I do appreciate the encouragement, whether it comes from strangers or people I know, but I would like for them to share some of it with the people who may not look so much like they need it. So please, get out their and give the skinny people a pat on their sweaty backs too.