"You're over doing it" - WTH!!!

People are idiots.  There, I said it. 

Ok, it is possible to “overdo” exercise.  You can cause overuse injuries, and you can overtrain, leading to burnout, fatigue, etc. And, if you have some kind of medical condition like and enlarged heart, it’s possible to kill yourself by exercising too much.

But most people who say stupid stuff like “you’re overdoing it” wouldn’t know what “overdoing it” looked like if it bit them on the butt.  You’re doing a great job of training, and are following your plan and you’ve got the results to prove it, but there are dozens of people on BT who train so much that it makes all of us look like lazy slackers.  That’s not a knock on what you’re doing at all—just making the point that the people that you’re talking about  have no idea what a really hard-core training load looks like. If they did, their heads would probably explode. 

Keep it up! You're doing great.

Seriously-  I am long way from overdoing it.  And yet there are people  who think that I am doing too much "for a guy my age".

A guy my age just croaked from a heart attack.  He was doing "age appropriate" things.  You know watching football all day on Sunday.

Leave me be....exercising every day is good!!  Especially when your job makes you sit in a chair all day.

I'm 6'1" and about 158... you're not too skinny   I used to weigh 148 at my lowest when I first started training...THAT was too skinny.  I got comments on that (mostly from my girlfriend) and probably deservedly so.

Now, when people give me comments like that I generally respond that I think I'm fat and need to lose about 10 pounds.  Eventually they see I'm being sarcastic/joking and they drop it.

Yes, this is super common, especially if you're the only one in your circle of family / friends / coworkers who has taken up training recently.   What you are doing is out-of-their-ordinary, so some of them will praise it, others will think you weird but say nothing (or at least to you), and sadly too many will criticize you for it.

The other point you bring up is your appearance (weight isn't it, it's your "leaner" look).  The "new normal" in America is flat out fat, so anyone less than that looks abnormal.

In 1980, you could be lean and look athleticm but in 2011, it's considered unhealthy by many.  5'" and 161 = BMI of 23.8.  WIth the normal range considered 18.5 - 24.9, depending on your build you're not even lean yet.

As I've posted before, watch old movies and see how people looked.  Even the fat characters weren't so fat.  I watched Smokey and the Bandit a few weeks ago.  Remember Jackie Gleason's Buford T. Justice, the "fat Southern sheriff".  Hardly looks overweight by today's standards.  All three of the Bellevue cops I saw the other day at Starbucks were fatter than Buford T. Justice, even accounting for their vests.

Look at this link to a picture of him from The Honeymooners where he played the "fat bus driver" Ralph Cramden.  This was "fat" in 1955: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3708915200/nm0001276

He's barely heavyset by today's standards. 

Watch Breaking Away.  http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1034394112/tt0078902  That was "normal" teenagers in 1979.   Walk the mall and see if that's normal in 2011.

Ever wonder why you can keep crabs in an open pot? Because as soon as one starts to crawl out, the others will grab hold of it and drag it back in.

People are like that, and you're crawling out of the pot... See it as a sign you're doing the right thing.

I've heard that from a few family members.  Most of them know nothing about triathlon, so I just ignore it anymore. 

Yesterday my husband told me that if I drop another 5 lbs., then people will talk about me.  He's been 100% supportive of what I'm doing, so I trust that he's being honest with me, and I've reconsidered what I originally thought was an acceptable race weight. 

"Race weight" is getting close when people start asking if I'm sick or something...

My mom told a guy I *just* started seeing that I was "over the top" with the whole triathlon thing. She may have also used the word "crazy" I'm not certain, but that was definitely the message. Luckily he is also a triathlete so just laughed it off with me.

How interesting would life be if we could all comment so freely on everyone's choices without getting punched in the face.

Haha. I was imagining how cool it would be if everyone who goes to the gym would focus on their own workout instead of making fun of other people there... anyway.

This is what I deal with, social eating. At first it was my refusal to feed a one year old an adult sized piece of cake. I got made fun of a lot for monitoring what my kids eat. Now that it's been 5 years my friends are used to it and I've relaxed a little too.

But what still happens is that my friends sometimes comment that I'm "skinny as a rail" so why can't I eat that tortilla fried in oil? I don't like to be too picky, but there have been times when I eat a little differently at a group function and I guess it makes other people uncomfortable. If only we would all just focus on ourselves... I think that is the main problem.

I like the way that I look right now but I'm not quite where I want to be yet and part of that is diet.

I agree with what you are saying.  I would get annoyed if someone just talked about training all day.  But I actually rarely bring it up.  It's the friends/family that think it's ok to bring it up.  I believe they're on me because I don't golf as much with them anymore, but still retain my close freindships with them, just on a different level. 

Funny you say that, people look at me funny when I tell my kid he can't have a third piece of cake at a birthday party.  Thankfully, they have my good eating habits, most of the time.  DOn;t get me wrong, I don't think sweets here and there are a bad thing, just in moderation.

I also have not felt as good as I do right now. I had a pretty big medical scare in the fall (infection in the lining of my brain), and have struggled for ten years with other sinus issues.  I now feel so energized everyday, so it's hard for me to not want to continue doing what I am doing.

I am almost to the point of getting pi$$ed off at people.

Thank you everyone for allowing me to vent!!!!

No idea about the OP but I get that and NEVER talk about my training here and constantly get comments about how I'm exercising too much.  Or going out AGAIN?  It really doesn't bother me though cause the guys making the comments are probably working harder than me all day in the sun.

I didn't say it was the case for everyone.  But think about it.  99 percent of the people wouldn't know how much you train, unless you tell them how much you train.  My co-workers know I workout and do races, but they have no clue of what those workouts consist of...or the frequency.  Even my next door neighbor doesn't know how often I work out because I'm pretty sure they aren't around everytime I step out the door for a run.  The only person that knows the extent of my training is the person that sleeps in the same bed as I.  And the only reason she knows is because she hears the alarm clock going off at 5:45am, that's set so I can get a run in.  She's home at 5:00 when I get home from work, before heading to the pool.  I'm just saying that the vast majority of people wouldn't know how much you trained if you didn't tell them. 

Let me be clear...this is not the case for 100% of the population, but a generalization on my part

I also agree that any amount of training would seem like "overdoing" it to someone with a sedentary lifestyle.  Just ignore it and keep doing what you're doing

I'm pretty sure that's still 10 pounds away... Isn't it:

When people ask if you've been sick, you're 10 pounds away.

When people start to whisper about cancer or some other disease, you're 5 pounds away

When people start discussing intervention, you're at race weight.

(apologies to Dan Empfield at ST if I messed up the quote).

My wife told me I'm not allowed to lose any more weight, so I guess I'm at my race weight! I'm still losing it very slowly though (don't tell her!!!).

Don't worry about over doing it unless you are physically ailing in some way, missing work or letting it affect your life in a very negative way. Your beer-drinking buddies may not understand, but every once in a while it's just time to find new friends...

We moved in with my parents for 7 weeks last summer between closing on our old house and the closing on the new one.  My mother had been concerned about my weight loss and afraid I'd become anorexic.  After 7 weeks of watching me inhale food she stopped worrying about that and was very worried about me "overdoing it".  I was barely doing maintenance work on the bike and run and wasn't swimming at all at that point.  She suggested that it would be healthier if I exercised less and dieted more.

Since then my mother has decided that she likes my way better and has been doing an exercise program on her Wii Fit since Christmas.  She's dropped 2 pant sizes and ate a piece of cake AND ice cream yesterday for my daughter's birthday. 

People have a hard time with change.  They're worried now but if you give them time to adjust to the new "normal" it will eventually become a non-issue.

Do I have to walk, or may I take one of those little scooters?

The pic makes me miss Bloomington...