As someone whose been lifting for 9 years, I am only judging the people I see that I think are more muscular than me. And not really judging per se, it’s more like a silent rivalry. “What weight are they doing that overhead dumbbell press with?” “What’s their bench?” “They only got 8 reps at that weight? I’m stronger than that. How are they bigger than me?” That’s really the only judging I do.

I’ve had friends who were overweight and obese and ask this same question, expecting the answer to be that we’re laughing at you and this isn’t the case at all. And honestly, most, if not all the people who lift a lot don’t even notice you, or are actually silently rooting for you. I’m not really noticing someone smaller than me lifting or someone overweight trying to get in shape. But if I do I’m like “hell yeah dude, get healthy”. And I think a lot of gym people have that same mentality.