Health Freak...

[mjh]

like Hazmat, I'm fortunate that the majority of my mates are happy if I'm happy. I don't hector anyone, so most people just see me doing what I'm doing and leave me be. You do get a few jibes here and there though, and it's not just health related.

• trying to be frugal, save money- "no point saving money if you don't enjoy life"

• investing money and thinking long term- "what are you, Donald Trump all of a sudden?"

• making an effort to use time at work/study more productively- "brown-noser, teachers pet"

• healthy eating/exercise/mental attitude- see thread above

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that when you make a certain decision, it highlights other people's decisions. You turn down the cake they're stuffing their face with, and it shines a light on the fact that they're stuffing their face with cake. They know they've made a poor decision, but defensively (subconsciously?) attack you for the perceived rebuke, which actually comes from themselves. At one stage, my girlfriend would get a bit pissy at me when I would say "I'm off to the gym now, want to come?", because it forced her to say "no, I don't". It brought her choice not to exercise into focus.

Likewise, a friend who saves no money and remains willfully ignorant about investing etc used to tell me it bored him when I told him what I was doing with my money. Again, by telling him that I was seeking a return on my savings, it highlighted the fact that he wasn't, and wouldn't know where to start. Again, it's a self-ego-defense to blame me for that feeling that face up to his choices.

So I've learned just to do what I do, lead by example and answer questions. I try to never make a point of turning something down. It's always, "no thanks, not right now" rather than "no, I don't eat junk food".

[Love_Deadlifts]

I'll even tell them that I'm changing things cause I'm sick of being fat. Then Dr. psychologist comes out of nowhere and starts to try and analyze you for having one realistic thought about yourself (notice I didn't say negative).

One of my psych professors once said that people who always think positively tend to have a false sense of reality. There's nothing wrong with assessing a problem accurately.

[baughmjk]

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that when you make a certain decision, it highlights other people's decisions. You turn down the cake they're stuffing their face with, and it shines a light on the fact that they're stuffing their face with cake. They know they've made a poor decision, but defensively (subconsciously?) attack you for the perceived rebuke, which actually comes from themselves. At one stage, my girlfriend would get a bit pissy at me when I would say "I'm off to the gym now, want to come?", because it forced her to say "no, I don't". It brought her choice not to exercise into focus.

Likewise, a friend who saves no money and remains willfully ignorant about investing etc used to tell me it bored him when I told him what I was doing with my money. Again, by telling him that I was seeking a return on my savings, it highlighted the fact that he wasn't, and wouldn't know where to start. Again, it's a self-ego-defense to blame me for that feeling that face up to his choices.

So I've learned just to do what I do, lead by example and answer questions. I try to never make a point of turning something down. It's always, "no thanks, not right now" rather than "no, I don't eat junk food".

Quoted for truth. This is something I need to work on, but it can be very difficult. My girlfriend gets pissed when I try to get her into the gym. It's hard for me not to say anything when I've found such great results and just want her to experience the same thing. Fortunately she's understanding of the choices I make and doesn't hold me back in any way. My hope is that someday she'll come around if I just leave it alone.

[hazmat]

mjh... I think you're mostly spot-on with what you posted last.

I was just out this past Friday with some friends at a local bar. When I go out like that, I generally feed myself before I go out so I'm not too tempted to eat what the places we go to offer. I'm drinking beer, after all, and that's bad enough(but I loves the stuff!!).

Anyway, this was a group of folks I work with and I was next to a rather largish woman. When food was ordered, I took a pass. She asked me why I wasn't eating...well, I ate before I came. Okay, why would you do that when we're going to a place with excellent food? Well, "excellent" is relative..I don't eat out much, says I. Then the inevitable; please explain what you mean. I didn't want to do this because I knew she'd end up offended and I tried to wriggle my way out of it, to no avail. She ended up offended(oh well, don't ask, then) and I felt like a bit of a heel until I realized it wasn't MY issue...it was hers.

[RoadDawg]

You guys have no idea how much crap I've taken because I don't like many of the sweets that everyone loves..candy/cakes etc. Ever since I was a kid, before knowing anything about eating healthy. People just don't understand being different, they are usually afraid of anything that is slightly out of ordinary and thus have weird reactions.

Also I think my girlfriends friends are starting to hate me, because every time they are over and discussing their diets, I tend to laugh
Yes, it might sound cruel, but I really tried to help them beforehand.. they just would not listen, so I've given up

[Gator]

First. Woah. Congrats to those who are able to eat healthy on holidays/engagements. Health Freaks. You have much more will power than I have. I think I may have consumed about 2 weeks worth of calories alone (not counting the other crap I ate like refined sugar and what not) over this last 4th of July weekend and the following week vacation I took for most of my family's birthdays. BBQ's, southern cooking, birthday cake, ice cream, and eating on the go... oh so good.

Ends up being just part of my allowance that I give myself. Most of the year I eat healthy... but I have never been called a "health freak"... yet.

mjh... I think you're mostly spot-on with what you posted last.

I was just out this past Friday with some friends at a local bar. When I go out like that, I generally feed myself before I go out so I'm not too tempted to eat what the places we go to offer. I'm drinking beer, after all, and that's bad enough(but I loves the stuff!!).

Anyway, this was a group of folks I work with and I was next to a rather largish woman. When food was ordered, I took a pass. She asked me why I wasn't eating...well, I ate before I came. Okay, why would you do that when we're going to a place with excellent food? Well, "excellent" is relative..I don't eat out much, says I. Then the inevitable; please explain what you mean. I didn't want to do this because I knew she'd end up offended and I tried to wriggle my way out of it, to no avail. She ended up offended(oh well, don't ask, then) and I felt like a bit of a heel until I realized it wasn't MY issue...it was hers.

Not to sound mean or anything, however, I bet that didn't stop her from eating that "excellent" food.

[Love_Deadlifts]

You guys have no idea how much crap I've taken because I don't like many of the sweets that everyone loves..candy/cakes etc. Ever since I was a kid, before knowing anything about eating healthy. People just don't understand being different, they are usually afraid of anything that is slightly out of ordinary and thus have weird reactions.

Also I think my girlfriends friends are starting to hate me, because every time they are over and discussing their diets, I tend to laugh
Yes, it might sound cruel, but I really tried to help them beforehand.. they just would not listen, so I've given up

Yeah, I generally just tune people out when they talk about their diets because i know it'll drive me crazy and i will want to say something. Even when someone asks me specifically i generally don't go into much detail as it just creates issues usually.

[Rob_M.]

My brother acts in the way described multiple times in this thread. He mocks me when I refuse cake/sweets/chocolate/ice cream, or when he sees me eating things like porridge oats, or taking multivitamins/fish oil tablets. He, on the other hand, eats terribly; the aforementioned cake/chocolate/sweets/Cola mash-up. Now, if he was young, I'd assume it was just because I'm behaving differently, but being 18 I think, like mjh said, it's just highlighting his poor choices and decisions. Unfortunately, a lot of the time we will be in situations where the norm isn't what we choose to follow, to our benefit I might add, and so we will always seem 'weird' to people.

[eLvarouza]

You guys have no idea how much crap I've taken because I don't like many of the sweets that everyone loves..candy/cakes etc. Ever since I was a kid, before knowing anything about eating healthy. People just don't understand being different, they are usually afraid of anything that is slightly out of ordinary and thus have weird reactions.

Also I think my girlfriends friends are starting to hate me, because every time they are over and discussing their diets, I tend to laugh
Yes, it might sound cruel, but I really tried to help them beforehand.. they just would not listen, so I've given up

Yeah, I generally just tune people out when they talk about their diets because i know it'll drive me crazy and i will want to say something. Even when someone asks me specifically i generally don't go into much detail as it just creates issues usually.

Yea it's too bad people can be so closed-minded sometimes. I was trying to explain why saturated fat isn't as terrible as people make it out to be to some dude who was obsessing over the fat content of peanut butter, but it just fell on deaf ears. Whatever, you just eventually stop caring. We just have to accept that a lot of people will eat terrible foods and be pig-headed about it

[hazmat]

First. Woah. Congrats to those who are able to eat healthy on holidays/engagements. Health Freaks. You have much more will power than I have. I think I may have consumed about 2 weeks worth of calories alone (not counting the other crap I ate like refined sugar and what not) over this last 4th of July weekend and the following week vacation I took for most of my family's birthdays. BBQ's, southern cooking, birthday cake, ice cream, and eating on the go... oh so good.

Ends up being just part of my allowance that I give myself. Most of the year I eat healthy... but I have never been called a "health freak"... yet.

mjh... I think you're mostly spot-on with what you posted last.

I was just out this past Friday with some friends at a local bar. When I go out like that, I generally feed myself before I go out so I'm not too tempted to eat what the places we go to offer. I'm drinking beer, after all, and that's bad enough(but I loves the stuff!!).

Anyway, this was a group of folks I work with and I was next to a rather largish woman. When food was ordered, I took a pass. She asked me why I wasn't eating...well, I ate before I came. Okay, why would you do that when we're going to a place with excellent food? Well, "excellent" is relative..I don't eat out much, says I. Then the inevitable; please explain what you mean. I didn't want to do this because I knew she'd end up offended and I tried to wriggle my way out of it, to no avail. She ended up offended(oh well, don't ask, then) and I felt like a bit of a heel until I realized it wasn't MY issue...it was hers.

Not to sound mean or anything, however, I bet that didn't stop her from eating that "excellent" food.

Nah, no stoppin that. She ordered a small pizza and washed it down with a bacon cheesburger and fries. I had to leave right about that point.

[hazmat]

As a side note to all of this, what I find universally hilarious is the people who will see you and comment on how good you look. They'll ask you if you've lost weight/added muscle, then they'll complain how this or that diet they've tried just isn't working for them. So being a helpful sort(and having obvious proof that what I'm doing is working) I'll suggest they stop this or start that, etc. They look at you like you're a nut bag and have no idea what you're talking about. Apparently, if some Hollyweird star or ex-jock isn't pimping it, it can't possibly work.

[7611masari]

As a side note to all of this, what I find universally hilarious is the people who will see you and comment on how good you look. They'll ask you if you've lost weight/added muscle, then they'll complain how this or that diet they've tried just isn't working for them. So being a helpful sort(and having obvious proof that what I'm doing is working) I'll suggest they stop this or start that, etc. They look at you like you're a nut bag and have no idea what you're talking about. Apparently, if some Hollyweird star or ex-jock isn't pimping it, it can't possibly work.

This is one of those where I think less is more works. Instead of telling them why theirs isn't working, just become a stronglifts commercial. But don't give friends advice. Most people like to learn but really don't like being taught by their friends because it adds a level of inequality in knowledge that wasn't previously there.

[bigwhat62]

This is one of those where I think less is more works. Instead of telling them why theirs isn't working, just become a stronglifts commercial. But don't give friends advice. Most people like to learn but really don't like being taught by their friends because it adds a level of inequality in knowledge that wasn't previously there.

you are dead on. most of my friends dont get it and instead of fighting i just tell them to check the site out. i had a buddy of mine, first your into the PD, telling me he didnt care about strength as long as he was big. i was like "WTF!" if i were a cop and got into a scuffle you bet your butt i want to be strong.

i use to have a lot of influence on my friends years ago cause of the bodybuilding type lifting i did. i got all my friends into it and i showed them the exercises and proper form to do it. of course we were doing endless reps and split training. so now that i have switched it up i am smaller than before and stronger than ever. they tell me they are big because of me and they give me alot of credit for it. i wish i could take it all back and rewire their brains for strength cause now it feels like going against the grain when i teach them about stronglifts.

[hazmat]

As a side note to all of this, what I find universally hilarious is the people who will see you and comment on how good you look. They'll ask you if you've lost weight/added muscle, then they'll complain how this or that diet they've tried just isn't working for them. So being a helpful sort(and having obvious proof that what I'm doing is working) I'll suggest they stop this or start that, etc. They look at you like you're a nut bag and have no idea what you're talking about. Apparently, if some Hollyweird star or ex-jock isn't pimping it, it can't possibly work.

This is one of those where I think less is more works. Instead of telling them why theirs isn't working, just become a stronglifts commercial. But don't give friends advice. Most people like to learn but really don't like being taught by their friends because it adds a level of inequality in knowledge that wasn't previously there.

I totally get what you're saying, but it's hard not to teach in these situations. I like sharing the things that I know with people who are genuinely interested when they ask. It feels good to give back, but you're right, it can lead to some issues. I'm going to try to keep this in mind here in the near future. A very good friend of mine wants to get in the gym with me and when he does, we're going to start the SL 5x5 program. Since we'll both be starting it at the same time, hopefully it will avoid the situation you're describing. Shall see soon enough!

[Young Athlete]

I tried that with a kid who was stronger then me at the time and he quit the next day, I'm not a lot stronger then him