Getting slated for being healthy

Gurlzie1 · 30-05-2008 10:52AM #1

Has anyone else had issues with eating a good diet and weight training and getting slated for it at work?

I don't know if it's women at work feeling threatened or just plain jealous but I've been getting such a hard time about my eating and training habits? Comments the last few week have been:

'you can't lose anymore weight or you'll waste away and get a boy figure'

'don't do too many weights or heavey weights because you'll get too muscley and look like a man'

'you shouldn't drink those protein shakes too much protein is bad for you and they'll make you big'

'why are you eating walnuts, don't you know they're really high in fat which is bad for you'

'yuck cottage cheese, why not just eat normal cheese, it tastes better? Anyway isn't all cheese bad for you?'

It's got so bad that I've resorted to eating lunch at my desk because I can't be bothered facing all the questions and being told how wrong I am for doing what I do.
It's so silly but I have to hide my cottage cheese under my desk and take mouthfuls only when I've checked to see if the coast is clear, if someone does see it they pull a face and tell me that it's gross.
I think I'm going to explode and I dare not give a harsh reply to people or tell them what my goals are or what they're eating is bad for them because I don't want to alientae myself but at the same time I'm not very happy with the attitude I'm getting from people!

Does anyone have any ideas of how to tackle this issue? Is this just something I'm going to have to get use to because thats just how it is?

Suggestions much appreciated, I'm going to go nuts!

seamus · 30-05-2008 10:58AM

You probably have to gauge each comment as they come.

Some people may very well be concerned for your health, if you're looking very skinny.

Other people may indeed be jealous - it's easier to comment on other's healthy eating to make you feel better than to change your own habits.

And of course, some people just feel the need to make comments and stick their nose in where it's none of their business.

All of your above comments, I'm assuming you should be able to counter with facts. Most people will quote bull**** that they've gotten from the latest edition of "Now" or from one of their mates on the latest fad diet, such as, "All cheese is bad for you" and "Protein will make you big". If you continually correct people when they're wrong, they'll should stop making incorrect comments.

c - 13 · 30-05-2008 11:01AM

Simple answer - Fuck them all.

Sounds to me they feel threatened when they see someone making an effort to get and keep themselves in shape. Its much easier to sit and eat cake and make comments at someone who's trying their best t omake an effort at improving themselves.

Also all their points that were made were incorrect, but you probably knew that anyway.

So in short - Put your cottage cheese up on the table and be proud of what you do/eat.

If they comment about your food choices just say something along the lines of "Well I'd hate to see myself turining into a lard ass"/"It just so happens I enjoy the taste of cottage cheese". They should soon get the idea and leave you alone.

Gurlzie1 · 30-05-2008 11:08AM

c - 13 wrote: »

Simple answer - Fuck them all.

Sounds to me they feel threatened when they see someone making an effort to get and keep themselves in shape. Its much easier to sit and eat cake and make comments at someone who's trying their best t omake an effort at improving themselves.

Also all their points that were made were incorrect, but you probably knew that anyway.

So in short - Put your cottage cheese up on the table and be proud of what you do/eat.

If they comment about your food choices just say something along the lines of "Well I'd hate to see myself turining into a lard ass"/"It just so happens I enjoy the taste of cottage cheese". They should soon get the idea and leave you alone.

Thanks for the positive post, I know they're comments are ridiculous and I have tried to put them straight but sometimes it just falls on deaf ears.

I might just have to bite the bullet and put myself out there and not give a s**t what anyone else thinks.

Al_Fernz · 30-05-2008 11:12AM

I get slated by my colleagues and mates for pretty much the same things. However, I don't give a rats a$$ of people's opinions. Eating a healthy diet and exercising is not the social norm in Ireland. People like to pick on individuals who are different because they fear being different in any way themselves.

Hanley · 30-05-2008 11:12AM

"No you're wrong, why are you a fat ass when I'm slim and healthy?"

"Is it that you're jealous? Maybe if you ate more like me you wouldn't be a fat cnut"

People like the ones you work with REALLY annoy me.

celestial · 30-05-2008 11:13AM

OP hold your head up high and don't go eating cottage cheese under your desk. Be proud of yourself and the choices you make. If you keep getting those comments, smile and be polite. Unless the comment happens to be genuinely well meaning (which they don't appear to be) they are, as mentioned, coming from largely ignorant folks who, while aware of the fact that they could be doing things a lot better when it comes to health/fitness/general habits, don't have the will or the wherewithall to change, and are ignorant of the facts.

The vast majority of people out there do believe that lifting weights will make you super bulky and think that you can never get enough protein eating their regular Western diet.

Those comments are mainly coming from jealous people with lazy, lazy, lazy, oh so lazy minds. Rise above it.

topper75 · 30-05-2008 11:15AM

Sad fact is - very few people these days look after themselves. Just be glad you are one of the few who are happy looking in the mirror.

username123 · 30-05-2008 11:15AM

Gurlzie1 wrote: »

I might just have to bite the bullet and put myself out there and not give a s**t what anyone else thinks.

Thats exactly what you should do - while trying to contain the giggles thinking how the smile is gonna be wiped off their faces when they are handing over money to consultants to diagnosis various health issues that all come from bad diet!!

I look after my own diet and any comments that come my way about the 100grams of nuts and seeds I eat for brekkie at my desk each morning are greeted either by stony stare or stony stare + 'whats it to you?'. I havent had a comment in months now.

Vegeta · 30-05-2008 11:18AM

You should see the looks I get when I eat tuna mixed with peanut butter.

Yeah it can be tough in an office environment to deal with the folks who think they know everything because they read it in a magazine.

It does make me more motivated though because once they see me eating healthy if I even get tempted to eat a chocolate bar or chips, I know they'll all be "couldn't stick the diet ehh" so it drives me on

Stay strong, reach your goals

tribulus · 30-05-2008 11:21AM

I used to actually get hassle off this girl in college before over me eating chicken rice and sesame oil most days. I eventually kind of snapped and called her a big fat mess (which she was). Felt bad about it after and not necessarily advising that here but it really, really pisses me off when as Seamus said:

"it's easier to comment on other's healthy eating to make you feel better than to change your own habits."

Oryx · 30-05-2008 11:25AM

I dont know about the comments much, but I have found people sometimes try to sabotage your diet. People know I eat healthily but insist on buying me icecream and chocolate which I look like an ass when I turn down. And I gave up alcohol for 6 months and boy, did people get irritated by that. It was almost as if it threatened them or something.

All you can do is ignore the worst of it, and stick to your guns. I think people only comment because youre making them look bad, and theyd prefer if you didnt.

tribulus · 30-05-2008 11:26AM

Oryx wrote: »

It was almost as if it threatened them or something.

All you can do is ignore the worst of it, and stick to your guns. I think people only comment because youre making them look bad, and theyd prefer if you didnt.

In a lot of cases I think that's it tbh.

joker77 · 30-05-2008 11:30AM

I've had these kind of issues in work for several years. I think the main reason is that what I do is 'different' from the norm:

Cycle to/from work, which means me having a shower AFTER I get to work - DIFFERENT

Eating my meals at 11am and again at 2.30/3pm - DIFFERENT

Going to the gym most at lunchtimes - DIFFERENT

I think because people see you doing something different, they feel that have a right to comment on it. That really gets my goat up, I don't go around commenting on what other people do, but most of my work colleagues think commenting on me is fine.

"Do you ever eat at normal hours?"

"Oh, here comes the fitness freak"

"So do you still eat dinner after eating all that food during the day"

Some people do it because they see you doing something positive and they get guilty about themselves. Guilt manifests itself by projecting onto what's making them feel guilty, so I bear the brunt of their guilt. Other people are just stuck for some small-talk, so my being different gives them something to talk about with me.

I've very VERY rarely, if ever actually, have somebody ask me for my opinion on how they could improve their fitness/diet etc. I mustn't look like the most healthy person, not for want of trying!

PCB · 30-05-2008 11:32AM

OP i am constantly a victim of the exact same abuse. i run to work every day and weight train 4-5 per week and because of what i eat i constantly get annoyed and harrassed by flabby middle aged women and sometimes men in my office about it.

my pet hate is every now and again one of my colleagues will come and ask me for advice about losing weight or getting fit.....ill be nice do them up a generic little program and they nearly always say '' oh weights....i dont wanna get too big!!''

like ffs do these clowns even realise how difficult it is to put on any muscle or quality size or get single digit body fat. it drives me crazy when people say that to me. i think they believe by just turning up at a gym they grow to monstrous uncontrollable sizes!!

and then there is the protein question....''why are you drinking that?.....i heard that it can destroy your liver''
this is an actual qoute from a fifteen stone, 5 foot woman in my office. where do these people get their information? as a result of this i can only ever each my lunch alone because ill spend my time defending myself from questions from fat bstrds eating curry chips. i just dont understand how they are actually trying to me health advice when they can barely waddle from the office to the luas........

Vegeta · 30-05-2008 11:34AM

joker77 wrote: »

I mustn't look like the most healthy person, not for want of trying!

I'm the same, maybe if I was 100kg of lean muscle then they wouldn't ask so many annoying questions

Malari · 30-05-2008 11:37AM

People make these kinds of comments, usually to make themselves feel better. As if they can negate what you're doing because they don't want to accept their diet is not as healthy as yours.

I get this sometimes because I don't really have a sweet tooth and almost never eat deserts, chocolate bars, cakes etc. I just MUCH prefer the taste of savoury food. People say "you're so good, oh just splash out and have cake", etc. It's nothing to do with diet for me!

Ignore them and enjoy your lunch, whatever you're eating!

joker77 · 30-05-2008 11:39AM

PCB wrote: »

i just dont understand how they are actually trying to me health advice when they can barely waddle from the office to the luas........

My tolerance for this kind of thing is getting less and less. If it's a harmless question about why I do what I do, I'll answer it. But if somebody tries to pass judgement in my direction about what I do, they'll either have to back it up or else they'll know to think twice about their remarks next time.

Dudess · 30-05-2008 11:39AM

Whether it's jealousy, insecurity (the most likely explanations) or plain curiosity, nobody has the right to comment on how an individual leads their life if it doesn't affect others. And leading a healthy lifestyle doesn't affect others - apart from making them feel uncomfortable about their unhealthy choices.

I mean, if the office glutton was gorging cream-cakes, bottles of coke and packets of crisps on a continual basis and somebody asked them why they do that to themselves, there would be utter uproar - claims of "fattist" discrimination probably. And yet the office glutton will mostly likely develop type 2 diabetes or have a heart attack and thus become one of the people putting a strain on the health service, affecting taxes, which actually does affect others. However you can't say anything to them - that would be downright unfair.

But seemingly it's fair to hassle those who are simply leading an excellent lifestyle - and to throw insults at them like "fitness freak" etc. Strange, mixed up world we live in...

KERPAL · 30-05-2008 11:39AM

Hmmmmmmmmm OP, your case is not rare.

Whats the word for your co-workers.......
emmmmmm.....

Oh yea. Jealousy.

PCB · 30-05-2008 11:44AM

i know jealousy is a major factor in all those questions and maybe it is the whole begrudging irish thing but being fit in an office environment in 2008 is cause for ridicule!! i have just started my professional career and it is such a disappointment to know that i will constantly be singled out for not being a an unhealthy, cake eating slob.

i would never comment o their poor eating habits so they have no f0cking right to comment on my good ones

justdoit · 30-05-2008 11:47AM

I think an even more appropriate word is insecurity. It's been touched on by several posters, but people don't like to feel that their lifestyle is not as good as someone elses, and their little jabs and comments somehow make them feel better. If they wanted to feel properly good about themselves, they would show a bit of discipline, clean up their diet, and go to the gym, but it's easier to pass comments for behind a desk, especially when there's a bunch of equally lazy people to back them up...

joker77 · 30-05-2008 11:48AM

PCB wrote: »

i have just started my professional career and it is such a disappointment to know that i will constantly be singled out for not being a an unhealthy, cake eating slob.

That's a pretty depressing thought... quite true though...

PCB wrote: »

i would never comment o their poor eating habits so they have no f0cking right to comment on my good ones

It's hard not to retaliate, but if you do then you're the bad guy. And you know they're all going to gossip, what you said will get spun into something far worse

sobriquet · 30-05-2008 11:58AM

justdoit wrote: »

I think an even more appropriate word is insecurity.

I'd say that's it, and like Oryx said it's threatening. If you've a group of people with established norms and habits and you're the one doing things differently, you're implicitly saying that the normal way isn't right, even if it's just for you. Especially when it's something as visible as healthy eating. They'll react to it by condemning it defensively.

I'm happy to say I don't come across this (or just don't notice) but it's outrageous that people would pass comment so openly, the opposite would cause a ruckus.

Do as you will OP, as everyone else has said you'll have the results to show for it, they won't.

G86 · 30-05-2008 11:59AM

I get it all the time in work and it really used to bug me but I shrug it off now. What more can you do?! For example, they know I dont eat junk food etc, yet on a late night they will give me grief and ask if I'm trying to lose weight when I don't order a chinese with them! I bring my own lunch, for example a bean salad, and all I hear is 'is that ALL your going to eat'. If I drink protein shakes I get the whole 'oh are you on slimfast shakes?'!!!

Last Friday a few people decided to head over to the pub after work...I had my gym gear with me and said I wasn't going. They tried to make me go by saying I could go to the gym any time and I go too much anyway etc...

I think some people just don't understand it when you say your looking forward to your work out and its not just a means to an end such as losing weight. For me its a stress buster aswell and its not something I MAKE myself do as they seem to think!

celestial · 30-05-2008 12:01PM

joker77 wrote: »

That's a pretty depressing thought... quite true though...

It's hard not to retaliate, but if you do then you're the bad guy. And you know they're all going to gossip, what you said will get spun into something far worse

It really does make the mind boggle to think about how an all pervading laziness around fitness and health combined with the constant onslaught from fast/junk food advertising (think McD's - I'm loving it, seriously!!) has conspired to make a healthy and physically fit person the EXCEPTION and a source of potential ridicule.

It can't go on though. These days you can get thrown out into the car park if you're a smoker clogging up the hospital wards (at least in the US anyway). It won't be long before there is a backlash on the fat/obesity side...

Gurlzie1 · 30-05-2008 12:08PM

G86 wrote: »

Last Friday a few people decided to head over to the pub after work...I had my gym gear with me and said I wasn't going. They tried to make me go by saying I could go to the gym any time and I go too much anyway etc...

I get that one too!
I went out with the work crowd last weekend and when the platters of fries and mini sausages came out and I rufused them people were telling me that I'd have nothing in my stomach to soak the booze up and that eating something would be good for me.
They weren't to know that I had snuck a protein bar into the ladies loos to eat earlier but still they tried to pressure me into eating that garbage.
Who needs enemies when you've got friends and work mates like that!

Leon11 · 30-05-2008 12:11PM

Got it all the time working p/t in a restaurant:

"What are you drinking protein shakes for?"

"Why are you eating nuts?"

Of course they ask me this while munching on some food that is ridiculously bad for them, just told them to eat what they like and I'll eat what I like. If people were really pushy about it I'd point out the differences between what I was eating and they were eating.

When I'm in college never really have people comment much mainly because a fair few would play sports and be clued in and others will have gotten use to eating habits over time.

"That's the 12th egg I've seen you eat this week":D

Dudess · 30-05-2008 12:12PM

You're kinda caving into them though by eating cottage cheese and that protein bar on the sly. I know they've driven you to it by making you feel like a freak, but even so, try not to let them affect the way you want to live your life.
And if they comment, tell them flatly that it's your choice and they should mind their own business. They're the very ones who'll be fawning over pictures of Kylie and the one out of the Pussycat Dolls and wondering how in god's name they achieved such amazing figures...

KERPAL · 30-05-2008 12:15PM

I suppose this problem tells in a nutshell why we have obesity problems in the country leading to all sorts of related illnesses.
If the majority of people in the irish workplace think eating "healthy" is unusual and eating "normal" or unhealthy food is ok the problem will only increase id imagine over the years.
I dont have much sympathy for these lazy ignorant slobs, but i do have alot of sympathy for their children, who will know better.

Canis Lupus · 30-05-2008 12:15PM

Yeah I used to have the fat **** next to me laughing at my lifestyle change when I started going to the gym in August.....

I've since changed departments but I hear he has taken up running recently :rolleyes:

No real idea why people do this..... I think it makes them feel better about being unfit.