Girl, I know exactly how you feel. I was far too much of a wuss to cart my butt to the gym when I was still losing, and even now at a healthy weight I get the worst gym anxiety... I always fear that I'll feel out of place, like I've somehow sneaked into a place that I don't belong, and that everyone is going to be staring at me and inwardly (or, worse yet, outwardly) scoffing at how ridiculous I look. I just *know* that one of these days, someone is going to walk up to me and say "What are YOU doing here?"

However, I gotta tell ya, I've found that my own fears about heading to the gym are mostly bulls**t. In my experiences, it is exceedingly rare that anyone will react to your presence in a way that is truly hurtful, ie. overtly mocking you or teasing you or otherwise making you feel unwelcome in the facilities. What is slightly more common is for people to go out of their way to give you a little smile and nod, a la "Aww, look at you making a healthy choice! Good for YOU!" Sure, this kind of behavior ain't exactly ideal--it borders upon horrific condescension, and bugged the crap out of me (LOL)--but you have to understand that their hearts are in the right place. Meh. However, even these people are definitely a small minority, because I think 99 out of 100 gym-goers are focused on one thing, and one thing only: their own workout. For every tanned hardbody, there's at least 5 normal people just trying to keep their heads down and avoid being mocked... And all of these people are way too busy trying to get some exercise to give a second glance to anyone else. I know it sounds really stupid to say "no one is looking at you, and no one wants to hurt your feelings," but it's at least somewhat true. At least, that's my opinion anyways.

Another thing worth noting: I've been to the gym several times in the past couple of weeks with a good friend of mine who is about as overweight as I was, maybe a little more, and I can tell you that I have not seen a single person so much as snicker as he walked by... They really just don't care, LOL. So I do hope that the gym anxiety goes away if you really do want that to be your workout venue of choice! Pretty soon you will be the one that gym newbies are worrying about judging them. Hehehe!

You know... some people go to the gym because they love themselves too much, and some people like us go to the gym because we want a healthy life. There's nothing wrong with you going. They have nothing to say to you. Just ignore their looks... you're at the right place. The worst place for chubby chicks like us is in front of the TV eating candy.

Just ignore them!

Hello, Iīm also in a all women's gym and itīs great. Sometimes the skinny newbies star at me but when they get in the elliptical and see that i can take 60 minutes doing intervals and they canīt even make 5 minutes is priceless

1 point to the fat chick!!!!
0 point to the skinny bad person!!!

Now seriously... go to the gym, the gym helped me to accept and love my body as it is and reaffirmed my decision to lose weight.

i also find it easier to just throw my headphones on, jam out to my fave music, and completely enter my own world where i am the only one in the gym. keep at it, if they have a problem (which i'm sure they don't), they can leave

think otherwise like this: will you give an obese person walk into the gym a funny look, mocking them?
The answer is NO. Actually you'll admire them for taking the effort to starting a healthier life.
So then why are you afraid?

Besides, I might sound rude on the internet this way but by no way i mean it rude: don't think too much of yourself that everyone will have to look at you, you know....why would people have to care what you do while they have to focus on their own workout and problems?

I'm not saying that 100% people will not look at you. There will be people who mind others business but then again, why do you care for a stranger's opinion anyway? They might just jealous of your pretty face. Think positively.

Good luck. Going to the gym is very fun

I couldn't even bring myself to jog outdoors when I first started exercising--people would see me trying, lol. That seems like a long time ago now.

What I notice now the most at the gym is how hard someone's trying. I've talked to a lot of people about this, actually. People at the gym, skinny or fat, are *mostly* there to work out. Which is why it drives people *crazy* to see skinny girls reading books on the elliptical as they casually walk at paces that guarantee they'd be burning more calories if they were outside, walking around the neighborhood. No one's annoyed by people who are at the gym, working.

From those conversations and my own feelings, I really believe that the overwhelming sense that people have when they see people who have more than a few pounds to lose and are at the gym working hard is, GO YOU! It's actually really inspiring. And most people actually aren't jerks.

The other thing to keep in mind is: literally no one at the gym will be staring at you, utterly preoccupied by you, or standing around judging you--even if they are kind of jerks. You're the one who's self-conscious; other people have their own crippling self-consciousness, and also other stuff to do. So whatever it is that they think about you, they'll think for a moment, and then their brain will drift to other things. You can't let fear of that deter you from the gym!

DO IT!

As a frequent gym go-er myself, I see everyone there in the same boat as me. trying to be healthy, that is all. If there is someone who is overweight, I think no different - I simply applaud them, and everyone else there - for working out!