Breathe Magazine

Generally, on Fitness Fridays I like to share my personal trainer insider info on how to get more from your workouts, or how your body works when exercising.  This week is a little different.

Surprisingly, the first question people usually ask me when they find out my profession isn’t “how often do you work out?” or “what can you lift?”  It’s always, “what do you think of fat people?”

Even more surprising, are people’s reactions to my answer. It’s almost as if they are expecting me to say it’s disgusting, or overweight people are lazy.  I didn’t become a trainer to turn fat people skinny, I became a personal trainer to show overweight people that they deserve the be healthy — there’s a big difference.

Fat isn’t the issue — fat is a symptom of the issue.  Alcoholics drink because of deeper problems, not because they love the taste of alcohol.  People who overeat love the way food makes them feel — full, content and safe — not the way the food tastes (well, not entirely, but thin people love the way food tastes, too). Maybe it’s how they react to stress, how they react to happiness,  self-esteem issues, etc. But food is a coping mechanism for something deeper, a way to avoid the issue.

I got into personal training after suffering for years from bulimia, and after even more years trying to recover.  My overweight clients, when they first meet me, usually scoff and make comments about how I “don’t know what it’s like to be overweight ’cause I’m thin.”  Usually, I politely remind them that they just met me and have no idea who or what I used to be, but those that I can tell could learn from my situation, I share my past with.  I tell them that even though I have never been overweight, I know what it’s like to feel like I’m overweight, to not be able to control myself around food and to constantly feel as though I am not good enough, don’t deserve to be healthy and that I have no self control.  The only difference was what I did after I overate.

The reaction is always positive.

Generally, I can’t help people with their actual problems, or I would be making the big time therapist bucks, but I can give them the tools to live a healthy lifestyle, and channel their energy away from things that damage their health, and into ways to make them feel better about themselves.

Nobody judged me for being too thin, because strangers either thought it was attractive, or I was strong: only my loved ones knew how tortured and in danger I was.  I was dealing with the exact same issues as an overweight person or compulsive eater, I just happened to fit into society’s view of what was acceptable, so I was praised and envied.  While I got asked for diet tips, even while close to death, the overweight get made fun of, laughed at, or ignored.

In truth, I relate to my overweight clients and overweight people in general more than I do people that have been thin their whole lives.

Personally, I feel that someone who can find beauty in themselves and courage to live every day with their head held high — even when the entire world is telling them they don’t deserve to — that’s the strongest, healthiest example of a human being I can think of.