Maybe I should be flattered, but am not. It's that time of year again, when I get 'in shape' and then come all the stupid questions I get from random strangers at the gym. I have heard what I thought was everything, "What are you training for?" "What does your diet consist of?" "What motivates you?" "What are you doing?" "How do you do that?" ...Whatever...I hate them all unless I know you... then you can ask me anything.
Well, I thought I heard it all then I get asked this 3 times in the last 2 days, "How much do you weigh?" Seriously, when did THIS question become okay to ask, and from a stranger??? Just because I'm non-fat does not mean its okay to ask.
Then because I was in shock and had no smart ass response like I do the others, I told them. THEN, to really piss me off they act shocked and are in disbelief that I could weigh that much. So they obviously do not read Oxygen :) and have no idea what a fit 5'8" women should weigh. (I returned and asked what they thought I weighed and it was 110-115 from all three people...why have you wasted my time...idiots?!).
So... how would you answer this question? :)
p.s. I love cynicism and would prefer a comeback filled with it.
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4 comments:
Sorry Rachel, I have no good comebacks and I even thought about it overnight. I think I might immediately ask, "Why, what do you weigh?" If you're willing to ask, you better be willing to tell! Plus, it may just prompt them to think about the inappropriateness of their question.
That said, I think that our society has an unnatural preoccupation with numbers on the scale. We all know the details of the obesity factor, diet fads, inactivity, etc. so I won't go into all that. I also assume that our readers also have some idea of what they should weigh vs. the craziness that hollywood says women should weigh. See, unlike the ladies you encountered, I would put you at somewhere between 125 and 135. Why? I too am 5'8, I currently weigh (I can't believe I am actually putting this out there) 143.1; I feel that you probably train harder and eat better than me; I read fitness magazines, and I know what I weighed with more peak physical conditioning. But, when junk mags report 5'10 acctresses weighing in at a buck-ten (okay maybe a SLIGHT exageration) the average woman is going to think she's a heffer.
What I wonder sometimes is why we are so afraid to tell others what we weigh, especially if we are in shape and eat fairly well. There's often talk of wanting to drop (insert #) pounds or like I just reported on my personnal blog, being back at my pre-pregnancy weight. Maybe if we did know what others really weighed in at we might not be as critical of ourselves.
Thanks, that was good insight.
I'm sure I can come up with something better, but the first response that popped in my head was, "Probably less than you" or "As much as you wish you weighed". That's my mean streak coming out!
Of course, I wouldn't really say that. The meanest thing I'd be able to fork over is what Christie said, and that's not mean, just pointing out their rudeness. Or maybe "Do you always ask strangers how much they weigh?" Another snarky one would be, "Do you want to know my birthday and SSN too?"
People have no idea what fit people weigh (i.e. those with muscle). Right now, I weigh 2 lbs less than my pre-pregnancy weight, but back then I was trained up for the ATM and had much more muscle/less fat. So I still can't fit into my bikini which really bugs me.
I'm all about what I look like, not how much I weigh. I just use the scale to let me know when I need to back away from the Twinkies. If I wait until I can see it, then I've got 5 lbs to lose!
I'm just reading this now...I've always thought the 'weight' question was quite a double-standard...if you're thin, people feel they have a right to ask your weight and to call you things like "skinny"...of course, these same people would never ask an obese person how much he/she weighed and then proceed to use the word "fat"...
this person obviously doesn't know that muscle weights more than fat. :)
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