I saw this news story this morning...thoughts?
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I have mixed feelings. I think she looks great, but the line, "What's your excuse" suggests that everyone should have the same goal. She reached "the" goal and is questioning why you didn't. The thing is, everyone had different priorities and goals. It rubs me the wrong way.
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I think the idea behind the image is good, but the words were wrong. Instead of turning the focus around at the person looking at it, she should have just made the picture about her success.
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I agree with @TemperanceBrennan in that the tagline is the main problem. There is nothing wrong with her picture, story, or message, but all that gets derailed because she's instantly putting the reader/viewer on the defensive.
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@TemperanceBrennan: I agree, I had mixed feelings when I saw it. My knee-jerk reaction was to say "hey, when I have a baby, I know I will NOT have the time to look like THAT!" At the same time, I know it's important to be health-conscious...
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@shinymama: +1
I read an article where she said she only works out an hour a day. 30 minutes of strength training and 30 minutes of cardio. I could not achieve that body on only an hour of exercise a day, so my excuse is she has better genetics than I do, lol.
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I think some women are too sensitive. I can honestly say I have lots of excuses why I don't look like that, and I'm fine with it. I don't have to be her, and I don't think she is saying I have to be.
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I think she should have posted the photo without the caption. The photo by itself would have been inspirational but the caption makes it cocky and makes every mom feel they need to explain why they arent as fit as her.
I think people overreacted to it though -
I've seen a photo of a legless man in a wheelchair with body-builder muscle with the same caption "What's your excuse?" I think people are being too sensitive. The message isn't meant to make you feel like a failure, it's meant to inspire you to be more.
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@kiddosc: If your diet was equally committed, you probably could. 90% of this type of body comes from a strict, clean diet. An hour a day of exercise is enough.
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I agree with @pui: and @Mrs. Polish: . And dang she looks good! I know I am lazy, lol.
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I had this conversation with my husband this morning. We ended up agreeing that people are too sensitive. I think she looks great and I don't think she's trying to force her fitness onto anyone else. I feel like she's trying to inspire. Of course everyone has different goals and routines, she's asking if you can make room for healthy living in yours.
I wish I looked like her!
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I think she looks great and deserves a lot of praise. I don't agree with the harsh criticism that she is having to encounter. I've worked with trainers before and they can be very pushy, bossy, and aggressive for fitness, all for good reasons of course. She's just like another trainer with that hardcore trainer mentality. I know for myself, I still look 3-4 months pregnant even though I am 5 months pp and that's because right now, I am craving sleep and coffee more than a good workout or looking good. There was a time in my life when exercising was my priority and right now it's not. She looks good and she has the right to feel good about looking so good!
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I find it annoying. Honestly, I'm so tired of seeing crap like this on Pinterest, with the message being that women need to put so much effort into achieving/maintaining perfection. That said, I'm not offended. I guess I just feel like my priorities are different.
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@Kimberlybee: it's also easier for her to achieve that if that is in fact her profession. Any other woman who works a different job is going to have a bit more of a struggle getting that accomplished along with all their other priorities. Like sleep and coffee and such.
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I was never once offended by this! I think most women would love to look like that (especially after having 3 kids)... but we lack the motivation. Kudos to her for working hard at it. We (as a society) all have an excuse.
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I think it's great for her, I wasn't thinking badly about myself because she's in great shape (if that were the case I would feel like crap every day seeing skinny people!) Fitness is important to her and she's trying to get other mom's (like me) to make it important to them. I know I need to work out more, and this could be great motivation to do so.
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The woman's whole fitness tag-line is built around "no excuses". She also showcased the same photo (different poses with the kids) with a line that reads "motherhood CAN make you better". She runs a health and fitness SITE. For people who are interested.
That woman eats clean, lifts heavy, and does cardio. 90% of it is her diet. BUT she looks like that because she has worked out FOR YEARS. That is not 3 months or 6 months worth of work.
This photo is the same, no? Your excuse is invalid? Or is it not because it isn't a mom? How many people say, "oh i have kids" and use that as their excuse to let their health go down the drain? She's just saying that her kids are NOT her excuse.
She owns a business, runs a non-profit, and has 3 kids. I can appreciate that is busier than me and yet still makes it a priority :). I love that!
eta: I can't wait to get back in the gym, ha. This just encouraged me.
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I have no issue with it. In fact, it motivates me to get my fat butt to the gym.
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i'm not offended at all, but i am seriously annoyed. the truth is there are lots of legitimate "excuses" as to why some/most moms do not look like her.
i think her message that having 3 kids hasn't stopped her from reaching HER goals is fine and dandy, but to make women feel like they could and SHOULD look like her is shameful.
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@Mrs. Polish: @littlek: @blackbird: @pui: Agreed. I believe she said she was hoping to be an inspiration, so i don't think she deserves the harsh criticism. Yes, it may be a touchy subject because some women may feel badly because they can't look like her after having kids! I'm actually pretty motivated to go back to the gym!
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Personally, I don't think she is saying we need to look like her, but that there aren't excuses to prevent us from taking care of ourselves. That's her main message, I think, that even with 3 kids (or 1 or 5), you still need to take care of yourself for your sake, if not for your kids.
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@TheSwissWifeStyle: Agreed. She looks good! She just obviously has different priorities than me. E.g. my priorities are my non-fitness job, eating cheese, drinking wine and sleeping
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She looks amazing and she should be proud!! Which she obviously is!!
And my answer to her is that I'm tired!!
It's not a good excuse, but it's my excuse!
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I will say that the uproar is because she posted it on Facebook. If it was on her personal blog, her office, her business, or something she used to motivate clients I don't think she would get complaints.
By posting something publicly on Facebook, you are asking for people to be offended. That's why I typically avoid it.
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I don't have an excuse. I have a reason, and that reason is that I simply would rather spend my time doing things other than work out. And that's okay.
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Not offended. She looks amazing!
I've come to accept that I can only look like the best version of me and that is my goal every day. I will never look like this woman because I'm not this woman.
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@temperancebrennan, her Facebook page is categorized as a "health/wellness website". She posts a lot of motivation photos with tag lines. It has a very distinct audience
@rachiecakes, YES! Nobody can look *just like her* but you can be healthy or fit or whatever you choose to be.
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@pui: @kiddosc: I agree. Some night even argue that that (30 min cardio, 30 min weight training) may be over exercising in some instances. Diet really is 80% of your results.
ETA: I'm not offended either.
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Dang. An 8 month old, 2 year old and 3 year old? My only response is wow. My inner dialog is saying, "I sure hope she took care of herself during her pregnancy and didn't starve herself so she could get back to "normal" post pregnancy." That is what bothers me. I think she looks athletic and happy and I hope that women see her as an inspiration to workout and eat healthy if they want to look like her.
I, on the other hand, will clap with one hand while I dig into my bag of chips with the other.
@kiddosc: and yes, genetics plays a huge part!!
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She looks amazing and I am not at all offended. Health and fitness is important to me, but so there are also other things that I care about in terms of my quality of life so I am not going to give up all semblance of a fun life to look like that, but that is my choice. My decision to have a latte and pumpkin doughnut hole is solely based on my thinking that it is worth an extra pound:)
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meh...i'm not offended, but i'm also not really impressed. Everyone has different priorities, jobs, etc., and the fact that she chose a career that requires her to maintain the highest level of fitness and a killer body is good for her, but it's not a one size fits all world. I don't consider it some great achievement, because it's her job to make sure she's always in optimal shape. It's my job to keep my brain sharp for my career, which i imagine will be just as difficult as a new mom as her calorie counting and exercise. but i don't intend to post a picture for the world bragging about my efforts
I understand she is trying to motivate, but I don't find things like this motivating. they seem guilt-driven. Of course, i've always been an avid exerciser and don't really look to outside sources for motivation anyway, so maybe i am just not the target audience.
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It seems a little confrontational. I love to see workout inspiration, and I just feel like she could have been inspiring if she wanted to, instead of making people feel defensive. From the beginning she could have been more open and honest by saying off the bat that she grew up seeing how weight can negatively affect your life and that taught her that health is important and that she works hard to be fit to be an example for her kids or something. But the way she did it just seems designed to make people feel annoyed or offended.
@kiddosc: ONE hour of exercise a day and she looks like that?! What IS my excuse? Haha, I'm gonna assume her diet is probably much better than mine....
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I don't see it as a big deal. It's important for all women to be healthy, but if being physically fit or skinny isn't a priority then so be it. It's not for me. I want to be at a healthy weight, but a body like hers isn't important to me. No big deal
She's just reminding me that it's possible to stay fit even as a mom.
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i have no issues with it. i think she looks great and should be proud!
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I'm not offended. She looks great. I know that I have plenty excuses & reasons for not working out. I could stand to lose some weight and tone up, but I don't want to look like her. Not everyone aspires to this body type.
Honestly, I feel like she posted the photo with that specific caption because she knew it would be controversial and get her a lot of attention and drive traffic to both her FB and her website. She's got the brains and the brawn.
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I don't take her picture as offensive or fat-shaming at all. I think people see their own insecurities perhaps, and feel like it's bullying or shaming. But I see a woman who has put fitness and health as a priority and is using the picture as encouragement - like "you have no excuses" and "you can do it too!"
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No problem for me and I'm plus size! I saw it as, I have 3 kids, you can MAKE time to work out and eat clean, so can you. I've been working out and getting healthy since last year, so maybe that's why I read it that way? I stopped making excuses and decided to just DO IT. I also don't aspire to be that little, so that probably helped too.LOL!
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@Mrs. Polish: agree. I have excuses, but I'm honest about them, yes being mom is one of them but I'm not saying I could never be fit because I'm a mom, I'm just not making it an active choice.
I think it makes people feel bad but that's not her fault nor her responsibility. It's too easy to say "I can't be fit because I'm a mom". But I also think there is a difference between fit and healthy. She is both, whereas I'm healthy but I know I'm not fit.
My own personal issue is I get sad when I see fit moms like that who aren't covered in stretch marks and have the ability ot get back into shape. Even if I became as fit as she, you can't tone a stomach smothered in stretch marks. So what makes me upset is that I feel like a very small minority of moms who stomach is ruined forever. BUT that is not her fault and I say kudos to her for how hard she works. Even "just" one hour of exercise a day is a huge commitment.
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@mrs pen-her Facebook page shows her in a bikini, showing off her stretch marks. That photo was from a photo shoot and it was photoshopped. But I love that she shared those other photos. She has saggy skin, too!
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