Have you noticed how much attitudes toward you change once you're a "triathlete"? (I've only been one for 2 weeks, so I notice this markedly)

I went to a new doctor, and put triathlons down on the intake form as one of my exercise activities. I was treated very differently, with the doc clearly having a different set of assumptions about me and my health than I'm used to. Not just that my complaints were taken more seriously... maybe that I was treated more like a responsible patient, too? (dare I say, more like an adult than a whiney child?)

Some of my patients at work also react differently than I'm used to. I generally use myself as an example: "Here's my middle-aged body in bad posture, here's my middle-aged body in good posture, see how this and that and the other changes when I correct myself? Now you do it here in front of this mirror." Well, that used to work great, patients clearly thought "hey, if she can do that, I can too!" But I had one say "yeah, but you do triathlons". EEK! I had the same reaction when I was cheering a patient on to start some cardio activities at home. You know, start with little steps, you'll feel so good, soon you'll be doing more, etc. "yeah, but you do triathlons" "yeah, but you're in such good shape, and I'm not."

Maybe I should carry around a copy of a pic of me when I was around 200lbs to show these folks, to say "I was there, now, do the darn exercise I'm telling you to do!"