Try

[#00Buck]

I’m not the fattest person at the gym. However, when I first joined I was certainly in the top ten. I’m still far fatter than most people who go there but I can also lift more than twice as much as they can and I could probably bench press some of the smaller women. There’s a girl who sometimes goes to the gym at the same time as me. She looks like a ball. In fact every part of her body is round and looks like a ball including her face. She literally has no chin. When she moves she sweats. I mean even the most normal movement like walking. She is also very young which in a way is tragic and also in a way redeeming. Old people have a hard time losing weight. Younger people have a faster metabolism and more energy so they can get in shape quicker.

I’ve chosen to have a personal trainer. This is an expensive option but you get results right away and I want to be in shape yesterday if possible. One of the trainers was having a group session and they were short one person. They invited this round person into the group and the first exercise involved weights so he said “everyone run to the weight rack and grab some weights.” She waddled off slowly. “Run!” The trainer said being friendly and encouraging. “No” was the reply from the slow moving round ball of a person. I looked at the trainer. We were both shocked. I thought to myself “why is she even coming here?

She is paying for a talisman.

I don’t talk to anyone at the gym except for the trainers. There are a few exceptional people who I’ve approached because they have amazing skills. There is one beautiful woman who can lift an amazing amount of weight just using the muscles in her ass. There is a skinny black man who can catch medicine balls while balancing on an inflatable exercise ball. One guy does his pushups while doing a handstand. There is an old Chinese man who in spite of being elderly is dedicated to his daily work out. Everyone else I simply observe and what I’ve noticed is that they all change. In the time I have been there everyone is in better shape. Unless of course they were in excellent shape to begin with. Those people just look the same. But everyone has lost weight or gained muscle. Except for the ball. The ball always looks the same.

A talisman is an amulet or charm thought to possess mystical powers when worn by a person. The thing about a talisman is that in real life they don’t give you special powers. Joining a gym will not make you healthy. You have to actually exercise. I don’t know who to blame for the phenomenon of people buying things and thinking they will magically have an improvement in their life. I guess this concept is as old as time and I can’t wait for it to die. Buying the watch, car, cottage, stocks, perfume, dress, handbag, power up, or whatever that will finally fix your life is all a distraction. I don’t like looking at the ball. Not because they are fat. It is because they are accomplishing nothing in a place where people have come to achieve goals. I can’t stand people getting in the way and taking up space and cluttering the visual landscape with their lack of effort. Fitting in isn’t hard. There’s only one thing you need to do to be accepted.

Try.

I think everyone has a story or a reason for why there are in a place where they don’t want to be. There is a saying that “miserly loves company.” I actually think it should be “misery loves sympathy.” I find truly miserable people want others to feel bad for them. Admirable people want no part of sympathy. They just want to get on to the next step. They are tired of being where they are. There are mirrors everywhere at the gym. I feel like telling this person to look in the mirror and ask them if they are happy with what they see. I feel like asking them when they want to be a better person. The answer I’d be looking for is “today.”

There is no reason not to do something about it. If they decided to try I wouldn’t see them as being in the way anymore. They would be part of a landscape full of people trying hard to meet their goals. They could go from eyesore to inspirational in less than a minute. I’m not perfect. I’m sure you’re all too aware of that by now. I also don’t buy magical charms in an attempt to effortlessly change my life. When I look in the mirror I’m never happy with what I see. I try every day to change something about myself for the better.

I’ll probably never be the person I want to be but I won’t stop trying. 

[Liovaire]

This post has consumed my phone screen and crashed safari I'm actually impressed that was accomplished without images being involved.

TL;DR nice nerd essay. I too nickname the people around me based on what I see them as, it has kept me entertained during this course I am regretfully involved with.

 

Gym people who refuse to gym are pretty bad though, they could save time and money by doing anything else or actually get something out of said investment. "Gyms are totally a magic fix to my situation. Wait what do you mean I have to do work!?" Also related: I wonder how many people have wasted so much money on gym fees to do nothing that they could have just payed for surgery instead.

[Zaraphayx]

My favorite part of going to the gym when I used to keep my flesh prison in pristine shape was the people who would work out for an hour and then immediately treat themselves with a snickers bar.

[Red Lion]

Kudos to you for working at it. It's actually really encouraging to see someone determined to try and stick with their goals. Seems like most of us are either spiraling out of control or up to our eyeballs in stress and depression. I honestly don't think the girl who looks like a ball is going to get better, because people who look for quick fixes and easy ways out don't actually find solutions. It can be hard to work up the motivation to WANT change because change is really hard, long and hard to get started but once you actually get the ball rolling it gets easier.

I don't go to the gym but I try to keep my weight at least stable by staying active. I honestly don't think the gym would work for me, I'd get stressed out by how many people were there and I don't like being trapped indoors staring at a bunch of people I don't know and gym equipment. So I tend to go hiking and swimming, it's that perfect combo of energizing and soothing. Also, trees man...and flowers, I love that shit. 

Honestly I'm not at a point in my life where I can easily deal with people who don't want to move forward. Sometimes I think people are, in a twisted way, HAPPY to be locked in misery. They seem to thrive off of attention and sympathy and platitudes of "you're perfect the way you are". More and more I feel like "you're perfect the way you are" is a toxic saying, it's often delivered with disingenuous, pandering intentions and utilized as an excuse to keep people from trying. It's become a way to justify staying where you're at and never changing anything about yourself. The intent behind it might have been good once but it's not encouragement, it's placation. That's not what people like the ball need. 

[ZorroValdez]

[insert Yoda quote here]

[#00Buck]

The smartest thing to do is to not get fat in the first place. If you are fat or getting fat put a stop to it now. 

I'm spending a lot of time and money to try and get rid of it and it is taking forever and I'm working out 6 days a week most weeks. 

By the time I hit December I'll have been working out for a year and I still will have only got about 50% of the way to my goal. 

 

[Strongbob]

But Buck, trying is the first step to failure!  Didn't Homer teach you anything?

[Vallium]

20 hours ago, Liovaire said:

 I too nickname the people around me based on what I see them as, it has kept me entertained during this course I am regretfully involved with.

I do this same thing when observing people, but I never openly reveal strangers their nickame, it is simply my way of idetifying an unknown figure by way of physical or behavioral traits

Also @OP maybe she just feels obligated to be there, either by family or by self, either way its sad she's wasting time better spent elsewhere, even if it was staying a round ball and moving on with life having fun, or getting results to have a healther looking and feeling lifestyle

...I dont know her intentions, whether she actually is hapoy or not, but maybe she is putting in more effort than it looks like but she's still failing.

 

Many possibilities there but either way youre right and hopefully she gets some kind of results in her life eventually, for her sake

[Glowing Glass]

Just freeze the fat off

Or use those weird vibrating vest things

Or use that one weird trick with pomegranate

Its the 21st century for Christ sake, Stop trying to do things right and be a total waste of space like everyone else :V

Seriously though good luck, keep trying, and don't give up. You'll get there eventually.

[Rassah]

Weirdest Pokemon fan fic ever dude. I hope the protagonist realizes that some are just built in that shape.

[Enigma]

As long as you're healthy it doesn't matter if you're a little big. Do what makes you comfortable with yourself.

 

As for me. I don't like gym with a bunch of people. I would much rather run 2-5 miles. It's all about the music.

[#00Buck]

Just got back from the gym from my pre-convention workout.

It turns out my trainer and one of the other trainers is into anime. 

They want to come to the next con with me. 

We'll are run with our hands behind our backs doing the ninja run through the convention hall. 

Weeb Power!

[GemWolf]

8 minutes ago, #00Buck said:

We'll are run with our hands behind our backs doing the ninja run through the convention hall. 

How I'd love to be a fly on the wall when that moment comes lol 

[Vallium]

13 minutes ago, #00Buck said:

Just got back from the gym from my pre-convention workout.

It turns out my trainer and one of the other trainers is into anime. 

They want to come to the next con with me. 

We'll are run with our hands behind our backs doing the ninja run through the convention hall. 

Weeb Power!

For some reason people doing cringey ass things for the fun of it makes me smile more than cringe, Like so

 

Have fun stupid ass weebs

[GarthTheWereWolf]

#00Buck your story about the ball woman inspired some weird shit in my head which resulted in this:

I like to imagine that the ball woman fed their whole village for the coming winter.

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I need to stop drinking and watching charlie and the chocolate factory.... Jesus Christ ;[

[#00Buck]

3 hours ago, GarthTheWereWolf said:

#00Buck your story about the ball woman inspired some weird shit in my head which resulted in this: I like to imagine that the ball woman fed their whole village for the coming winter.

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I need to stop drinking and watching charlie and the chocolate factory.... Jesus Christ ;[

Wow! This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!!! Awesome drawings.