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Going to the Gym Makes Me Paranoid and Uncomfortable

Filling the guest blog position this week is Israel Lagares. He’s the writer behind FatManUnleashed, where he shares his personal weight loss journey, and the creator HealthRanker, a health-focused, social media news site.

fatmanunleashedYesterday somebody made a comment on my blog about how they hate weight training because it made them feel uncomfortable. Actually, “stupid” was the exact term she used. I completely know this person feels. Being really fat did not help my self confidence. I used to avoid going to the gym because lifting weights made me feel silly. I would constantly think negative thoughts. This ruined my workouts because I would not focus on the exercise. I would instead focus on the fact that I was paranoid of people looking at me. Was I lifting right? I’m a big man, am I lifting enough so I don’t look like a complete wuss? Am I lifting too much? Am I going to hurt myself?

For the past few years I have not felt completely comfortable lifting weights in the gym, but I realized weight training is very important, so I bought a set of weights that my wife and I could use in the comfort of our home. Today I’m not so self-conscious at the gym, but there are always times when I feel a little silly.

Here is a list of other things that can sometimes make me feel uncomfortable at the gym:

5. Running on the Treadmill. I can’t help but question the whole time if I’m slamming my feet too loudly on that thing? I wonder what the weight capacity is on it? What if I slip and fall in front of all these really fit people? The embarrassment would kill me.treadmill

4. I am a fat man and I happen to sweat profusely! I’ve seen folks giving me the evil eye when working on the machines, I’m sure they are saying to themselves, “I sure hope he cleans this thing off when he’s done!” That thought alone makes me not want to be there.

3. Changing the amount of weight. Down from 1,000 lbs where the previous person had the weight set to something that I can actually lift. Nothing makes me feel like a bigger weakling! I consider myself to be a strong guy, but there are some guys at the gym that are just beasts!

2. Spotter turned personal trainer. I dislike the attention I get when my spotter wants to be my personal trainer. He tries to encourage me by yelling loudly, “One More! Come On You Can Do It!” Everyone starts staring at me and then I lose focus because I think about it…ugh.

1. Sweaty all over. ALL OVER. I love going to the gym, getting in a good workout and being covered in sweat from head to toe actually makes me feel good, like I’ve really accomplished a lot. Unfortunately, having sweated so much that its soaking through the butt of my shorts makes me feel most uncomfortable. This makes me really wish I were at home instead of the public gym.

What makes you feel most uncomfortable at the gym?

Brandi

August 8th, 2008
by Brandi
Posted in Guest Blog





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  • “oh and you say that it isn’t starving yourself? try to lower your calorie intakes the way they had to. Just go ahead and try it tomorrow. Try eating half of the calories you normally eat? and also eat different foods than you are accostumed to eating. Plus, I don’t see how it could be healthy to lose that much weight in such a short time. and I’ve heard doctors say the same. and I am sure they were under care of doctors during the show, but I still don’t think it can be healthy. that’s my opinion. GO VICKIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!”

    on Biggest Loser 6: Vicky Vilcan by Stop and Think for a second

  • “It’s a shame that you don’t know the real Vicki. She’s really a sweetie, and a great anesthetist. We love Vicki, and her patients do too. It’s a shame that she is portrayed the way she is portrayed. I don’t believe that she was acting at all. But I do believe that they pieced together Vicki at her worse and crankiest for ratings. and i’m sure that some of the facial expressions were shown out of context with what was happening on the show. You do realize that she sacrificed alot to be on the show. I can see why it’s so competitive for her. She isn’t just competing against herself. She’s competing against everyone else. Why does everyone act like 350,000 is chump change?? Have you guys ever watched Real World Reunions on MTV? I’ve seen on a few occasions where the editors edited the scenes to make fights/arguments seem over the top, when in fact the people of the shows say it wasn’t as it seemed. That it was a 5 minute fight that ended in a hug, and they were friends again later that day. Please don’t talk bad about my friend. she’s a great person!!! She really is!!! and by the way……..she looks amazing!!!”

    on Biggest Loser 6: Vicky Vilcan by Stop and Think for a second

  • “Her own husband told her “that’s enough” in one of the episodes. SHE is making the faces. The words that come out of her mouth are HERS. The body language is HERS. She is not being starved or worked to death. SHE is the one who made the decision to get up in the middle of the night, while everyone else was sleeping, to exercise. SHE made the statement at the beginning of the season that the goal was to win it all. SHE is playing the game and all she can see is the money. All $350,000.00 of it. SHE is the one making herself look ugly. Not NBC.”

    on Biggest Loser 6: Vicky Vilcan by TC

  • “Stop and think for a second — I just thought of something else. The purpose of this show is to change people’s lives so they shouldn’t be starving as you mentioned because that would not be healthy. Marisa you made a very good point about no one else saying horrible things or laughing at people getting hurt. And her smirks were the first thing that I noticed about her. Is her fan club saying NBC told her to make those smirks so it would be caught on camera and she would be the “bad” guy. Is this the first season they told one of the contestants to do that? Are ratings so bad that they need to stoop to this? Isn’t this going down the same lines of fooling their audience that 21 did many years ago making people look smarter than they actually were? Just wondering. It’s really hard to not think of her as just plain mean and being a bully. If I were in her position, I wouldn’t want a tv show portraying me like that, and I don’t care how much hush money they were to offer me, and I could use the money but it just wouldn’t be worth it.”

    on Biggest Loser 6: Vicky Vilcan by Not understanding

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