{"id":9303,"date":"2013-10-27T06:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-10-27T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=9303"},"modified":"2013-10-26T15:39:23","modified_gmt":"2013-10-26T19:39:23","slug":"do-or-dont-you-need-an-excuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=9303","title":{"rendered":"Do or don’t you need an excuse?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facebook meme sparks an interesting question about fitness<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kelly Hockenberry<\/strong>, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Have you seen this picture?<\/p>\n

\"Kelly\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the left is Maria Kang, a mother of three little boys (spanning in age from eight months to three years) who also happens to work in the fitness industry.\u00a0 She posted this picture on Facebook over a year ago with the caption \u201cWhat\u2019s your excuse?\u201d<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, the image went viral recently and has been the subject of considerable controversy.\u00a0 In fact, the Today show reported she had received over 14,000 comments (large amounts of them negative).<\/p>\n

\"UTKellyRev2Column\"<\/a>The critics described Maria as a \u201cbully\u201d who was \u201cfat shaming\u201d and \u201cdemeaning.\u201d Maria\u2019s response?\u00a0 The intention of the post was to motivate, inspire and encourage people to take control of their health.<\/p>\n

The picture to the right was in response (again, posted to Facebook) with the heading: \u201cMy \u201cexcuse\u201d is that I\u2019m okay with this.\u201d\u00a0 It pictures a \u201cregular Mom\u201d with a slightly less desirable mid-section surrounded by three equally young children.\u00a0 (Although, can we all agree that she looks pretty damn good for having such a tiny baby?)<\/p>\n

Grab a cup of coffee while I adjust my soapbox because I have something to say about this\u2026<\/p>\n

First of all, let\u2019s not use the word \u201cbully\u201d so much (and in the wrong context) so as to dilute its meaning.\u00a0 Maria Kang is NOT a bully.\u00a0 You may think her tone is harsh or brusque (which, I still find absurd, but, I\u2019m trying to see both sides) however, it is not the use of force, threat or coercion to abuse or dominate.\u00a0 Period.<\/p>\n

Secondly, why is it an acceptable defensive posture to bash those who have obviously achieved success? \u00a0I can guarantee that Maria Kang is not sitting on the couch watching TV, eating Doritos and drinking regular Coke.\u00a0 Yes, her life revolves around fitness\u2026but, you don\u2019t get that body unless you are extremely disciplined. \u00a0There is no need for the sour grapes perspective of \u201cI am superior because I could<\/i> lose 20 pounds but choose not to because I\u2019m not vain like you.\u201d\u00a0 Or \u201cof course you look like that, it\u2019s what you do for a LIVING.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think that people who criticize Maria Kang feel sorry for themselves because they don\u2019t look like her and CAN\u2019T look like her because they don\u2019t have the drive to do so.<\/p>\n

AND, I AM ONE OF THEM!<\/p>\n

I drag my butt to the gym or go for a run every day of the week (OK, sometimes I take Sundays off) and I eat a relatively clean diet.\u00a0 But, I don\u2019t look like Maria Kang because I have PLENTY of EXCUSES. \u00a0Is this OK?\u00a0 Of course it is.<\/p>\n

Maria Kang\u2019s underlying message (because, let\u2019s face it, she made a provocative statement to get this type of reaction) is that if you want to look like a million bucks, you can\u2019t sit on your butt and make up reasons why it can\u2019t happen for you. \u00a0And, given the harsh reality of the epidemic of obesity in our country, she\u2019s right on the money\u2026WHAT IS<\/b> THE EXCUSE?<\/p>\n

Happy (healthy) Weekend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook meme sparks an interesting question about fitness By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, The Times Have you seen this picture? On the left is Maria Kang, a mother of three little boys (spanning in age from eight months to three years) who also happens to work in the fitness industry.\u00a0 She posted this picture on Facebook […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[302,3425,316,3426],"class_list":["post-9303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-featured","tag-facebook","tag-fat-shaming","tag-fitness","tag-meme"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}