To be disgusted with this woman

[Northernsoulgirl45]

So on This Morning the other day some fitness expert called anyone over a 16 lazy or having low esteem so and wouldn't work with them. Funnily enough is comments like this that contribute to low self esteem.

Aibu to be disgusted with this attitude and not even believe the statistics she spouted as fact. Apparently once you are obese you have double the sick days and shave at least 8 years off you life expectancy.
Ok I am not working full time but not had any sick days in years but dh has had 3 months off in last two years. So impossible to generalise.

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/tv/fitness-expert-who-wont-work-18640266

@TooTrueToBeGood

A fitness instructor who won't work with unfit people is as much use as a dentist who will only work on perfect teeth. She's a clown.

I came on to say something similar. This is pretty much it. She's no fitness expert. You need to understand both why people might be fit or unfit for that. She's also daft about the size 16 comment. I was a 16 at the height of my physical fitness - a combination of being very tall and muscular from swimming. Taking a single size as an arbiter of fitness isn't very expert at all.

There are lots of lazy people out there: the people who are too lazy to rethink their assumption that size labels in clothes correlate with health. And then, when they’re challenged, they double down and insist that a size 16 is obese and make sweeping generalisations about fat people. They always have some excuse for why they can’t exercise their brains but really they’re just lazy.

Lol Vultures.

Where was that meant to be for?

She’s either a deeply sad individual who gains self esteem by belittling others. At worst she’s a Machiavellian pundit wannabe who sees kicking easy targets as a ticket to fame and fortune. I wouldn’t pay any attention to her opinions.

If you’re upset about stop watching shite like this morning. Christ alone knows why anyone would choose to watch that when they could stream anything they like 24/7.

I thought Vultures was the fitness guru for a second there.

It's profile raising from a person who wants their 15 minutes on a programme that reaches millions of viewers.

It's clearly had its effect though

Us overweight people may not live as long but I bet our shorter years are happier than saddos who are always in the gym and eating rabbit food 😂

I didn't initially watch it initially. A friend mentioned it on social media so I foolishly took a look.

Has this person generated publicity? Does social and mass media 'reward' controversy and extreme views? Is this thread adding to that?

@MadameMeursault

Us overweight people may not live as long but I bet our shorter years are happier than saddos who are always in the gym and eating rabbit food 😂

What is sad about exercising and eating well? We understand the importance of exercising our pets and not feeding them shite in order to look after them properly. Why are humans any different?

I enjoy my life far more now as someone who is fit and healthy and full of energy than I did when I was overweight and found it hard to run round the block. Exercise can be enjoyable and ‘rabbit food’ can be tasty and satisfying. 🙄

Some people just like to be edgy and know they will get a lot of attention if they say something like this.

Why would you want to work with an 'expert' who believed anyone over a particular size was lazy, had low self esteem and was not worth working with? She sounds like a tit.

@Babdoc

It’s perfectly true that people were a lot slimmer in the 1960’s. There was usually just one fat kid in each class of 30 at school. Now it’s half the class. And clothes sizes were very different - a modern size 12 has the same measurements as about a 1960’s size 16. I had a 22 inch waist in the 1960’s and wore a size 10 in those days.

This is sadly true about size 12 (and I am a 10-12 myself, sometimes even an 8, which shows how crazy the vanity size thing is. My mum was a size 8 and she was very slim, I am not). We have got much fatter as a nation.

I don't think we are the only nation with this issue now. I bought some clothes from a French shop recently (Sezane) and was really surprised that a coat in size 10 was too big for me.

YABU watching This Morning. That aside, surely a fitness expert wants to help someone she has decribed, lazy or not - bizarre.

This woman is horrible, though. It is very easy to let weight creep on as I have found out during lockdown...

@VenusTiger I didn't watch it. Saw it mentioned on social media so looked it up online.

@MadameMeursault

Us overweight people may not live as long but I bet our shorter years are happier than saddos who are always in the gym and eating rabbit food 😂

That's ridiculous. I feel better and have more energy when I eat well. Exercise gives you endorphins which make you feel good.

Junk food is fine occasionally not every day. A couple of days on junk food I feel crap and have less energy.

She just wants attention.

She must know deep down that she’s pretty shit at her job if she can’t even accept a minimal challenge.

I have observed that some fitness professionals do seem to prefer working with the 'easier' clients. I'm sure doctors secretly prefer treating people with a benign mole rather than skin cancer or teachers prefer teaching kids who can already read - but they probably aren't stupid enough to say it out loud, unlike this woman

I agree with you OP that these kinds of mixed messages are really unhelpful. Fat shame fatties for being fat, then shame them for their honest attempts to be less fat. No way to win really.

It's just attention seeking and This Morning have got her in for the views. They have already done the 'personal trainer changes the life of massively obese person' story with Dibsy McClintock, so they need a different angle and obviously this woman was happy to oblige.

@MadameMeursault

Us overweight people may not live as long but I bet our shorter years are happier than saddos who are always in the gym and eating rabbit food 😂

You see that's just making you look a bit daft, why would you assume that gym goers don't enjoy it and that people who eat salad (is that what you mean by rabbit food?) don't like it.

Stay fat, that's absolutely your choice but it's also equally valid for slimmer people to make their own, different choice.

Why is it OK for you to skinny shame, if I said fatter people were all lazy lard arses who eat Mars bars all day there's be uproar.

Well her attitude is narrow minded. Many people end up obese due to injury, disease and/or disability. A friend of mine was in a car accident and the resulting broken neck and head injury means that she has really bad chronic fatigue. She can literally only do 30 minutes of walking or gentle activity twice a day. If she goes over, she gets a post traumatic brain injury migraine. She had to stop working. She’s gradually over the years put on a bit of weight and is a size 20. There is nothing she can do really, she’s disabled so forced to be lazy. But you wouldn’t know that to look at her.

However, sadly the statistics are true. Obesity cuts your lifespan by as much as 10yrs, so 8 is a fair generalisation. It does cause twice the sick days because obesity is #1 cause of cancer (it has just outstripped smoking) and causes many other medical issues like needing a replacement knee or diabetes or heart disease etc

@MadameMeursault

Us overweight people may not live as long but I bet our shorter years are happier than saddos who are always in the gym and eating rabbit food 😂

The evidence doesn’t support that tbh. Your total life span is shorter, but your years of being sick, in pain and miserable are actually longer because obesity causes cancer, diabetes, joint problems/arthritis, heart disease, and many other disabling diseases.

Sounds like she only wants to work with clients that she perceives as “easy”, she clearly has lots of contempt for obese people, even ones who are trying to improve their health.

And even if you think that obese people in general are that way because they’re lazy or have low self esteem - surely any obese person motivated enough to actually seek out a personal trainer has got themselves into a headspace where they’re ready and willing to make a change, and as such, doesn’t really neatly fit into the lazy / self-hating box?