Fit Mom: What’s Your Excuse?
Contributing Writers: Kristen Rinaldi and Juan Flores
Mother of three Maria Kang recently posted a picture on Facebook showing her fit body while wearing a sports bra and spandex shorts surrounded by her kids with the caption what’s your excuse. This picture has gone viral with over 12,000 shares and over 16,000 comments. It has also spiked up some controversy from viewers who think that she is fat shaming women.
According to newsday.com Kang stated “I’m sorry you took an image and resonated with it in such a negative way. I … had an eating disorder, work full time owning two businesses, have no nanny, am not naturally skinny and do not work as a personal trainer.” Kang has her own website Mariakang.com that includes photos, TV appearances, and journal entries. She also runs Fitness Without Borders, an nonprofit organization that Moms can meet in the park three times a week and the organization also offers fitness boot camps.
Below is Maria’s post on her Facebook page:
Health/Wellness Website · 217,979 Likes
I’ve been getting an influx of new followers, emails and comments (on my profile pic) recently. Some saying I’m a bully, I’m fat-shaming and I need to apologize for the hurt I’ve caused women. I get it. SO here’s my First and Final Apology:
I’m sorry you took an image and resonated with it in such a negative way. I won’t go into details that I struggled with my genetics, had an eating disorder, work full time owning two business’, have no nanny, am not naturally skinny and do not work as a personal trainer. I won’t even mention how I didn’t give into cravings for ice cream, french fries or chocolate while pregnant or use my growing belly as an excuse to be inactive.
What I WILL say is this. What you interpret is not MY fault. It’s Yours. The first step in owning your life, your body and your destiny is to OWN the thoughts that come out of your own head. I didn’t create them. You created them. So if you want to continue ‘hating’ this image, get used to hating many other things for the rest of your life. You can either blame, complain or obtain a new level of thought by challenging the negative words that come out of your own brain.
With that said, obesity and those who struggle with health-related diseases is literally a ‘bigger’ issue than this photo. Maybe it’s time we stop tip-toeing around people’s feelings and get to the point. So What’s Your Excuse? – Maria Kang
Here are my “Frequently Asked Comments” here.
We believe that it’s okay to post the picture on social media like Facebook but using the phrase “What’s your excuse?” is condescending. Just because Kang is fit doesn’t mean she has to rub it in other mother’s or even women faces. There always seems to be a stigma about having to lose baby weight right after women have children and this just adds more fuel to the fire. This post makes Kang appear to not be understanding toward other women’s circumstances about their weight.
Recently, Kang was suspended from Facebook for hate speech after writing about heavy women on her Facebook page. In a USA TODAY article they talked about how Kang saw pictures of plus size women modeling lingerie on the Daily Mail and decided to post this to her Facebook page. ” The popular and unrelenting support received to those who are borderline obese (not just 30-40lbs overweight) frustrates me as a fitness advocate who intimately understands how poor health negatively effects a family, a community and a nation. While I think it’s important to love and accept your body, I was a little peeved because I think that we’re normalizing obesity in our society,”
The post went viral and after three short hours the post was taken of Facebook and Kang’s account was banned. Kang’s response to the shutting down on her account was “I was pretty shocked,they said that I wasn’t complying to community standards and if I continued posting the way I am that I’m going to be completely removed.”
It took two days for Facebook to reinstate Kang’s page but they didn’t keep the post that caused all of the drama.
Check out this gallery of famous moms post baby:
