The 'thin people' mindset

Walking into the gym has gotten to be a fun activity. I get the chance to catch up with the guys that work there, and set myself into a walking mood. All of the guys appear to be relatively fit, though it's more that they are all thin and somewhat worked out. It's getting easier and easier to relate to thinner people because of going to the gym.

There's a difference between thin people and fat people, you see. It's not in the basic fact that one weighs under 200 pounds and one weighs over 300, but it's in the mindset that each of them have. As someone I know said, fat people have to be constantly aware of where they're walking, where they're moving. Fat people sometimes don't have the muscle control to 'leap' up into the SUVs or stoop down to the Porches (those things are so low to the ground, you might as well be sitting on it). Fat people have to be concerned whether someone their size is going to fit in a booth at a restaurant. Along with the normal daily 'grind' and 'routine' of things, we have to be aware of 'movement' things. Some are worried about how they're going to be perceived since a lot of the world is thinner than them. Some worry about having to shop at online stores because Wal Mart doesn't carry their size - and by virtue of that fact, the choices for clothing are limited. There's many years of being tired, grousing, lots of things associated with being large - not JUST the weight that was added.

Being human, we search for that which is similar when we choose to be around people. Thinner people can sometimes be naive because they don't understand the stuff that we go through every day. They bounce around, they do their thing, and only when their mobility is threatened, or they're pregnant do they realize that there might be another side to the coin. I like to hang around large people, I like it when chairs and booths fit someone of my size. I like it when I'm able to do whatever I want in comfort - but I dislike the fact that allowances have to be made in the first place. Through most of the people that I've talked with about this, that's one of the things that we have in common as larger folks. Inherently, the larger folks understand what other larger folks are going through, so we gravitate toward one another. So, yeah, similarities attract. I hope to find more larger people who are on the same quest as I am at the gym.

I wasn't looking for more folks to be around, and to post with, but a friend of mine - Rayne - told me of SparkPeople, which is a place that folks can share their stories and triumphs to the others in the community. The thing that I am *seriously* jamming on is the fact that it has most of the nutrition information already there for the stuff that I'm eating. I don't have to 'wing it' or guess with my charts. I am such a geek for charts and numbers, and this makes it incredibly easy to see what I'm doing and where I'm going.