I'm one of those thin people you always see at the gym spending a lot of time at the gym exercising and socializing. I am an instructor, so I know many of the employees and members, and part of the reason I socialize is for good customer relations. I also socialize at the gym rather than go out to lunch, go shopping, talk extensively on the phone, etc. I enjoy the gym setting and I like talking to other fitness-minded people. I am definitely a "gym rat", and I do have watch overdoing it at the gym, both to avoid injury and to avoid spending all my time there instead of doing other things (like cleaning the house). At one point I was spending so much time at the gym I didn't have time to cook healthy meals - talk about self-defeating! I was spending so much time at the gym that I felt guilty about it, but now I am reasonably happy with my workout plan. I am exercising in the morning before work now so I spend less time away from my family.

Diet makes more of a difference in my weight than exercise does. Exercise primarily changes the composition and shape of my body. I automatically eat less if I am not exercising because I am not as hungry. One thing I do notice at the gym however, is that a lot of people (perhaps even most) do not exercise effectively. I have not worked out with you, Diane, so I am not saying this necessarily applies to you. I just see a lot of people exercising at an intensity too low to burn significant calories, and a lot people wandering aimlessly from weight machine to weight machine doing 1 or 2 sets at weights that are too low to stimulate muscle growth. If you are not seeing results from exercise, change what you are doing. Hire a personal trainer if you can afford it. I used to have a trainer just set up a program for me every 6-8 weeks, then I would exercise on my own (that much I could afford). Right now I am doing a Body for Life challenge.