In the photo, seen at left, 32-year-old Maria Kang poses in a workout bra and matching micro shorts — revealing an incredibly toned figure with washboard abs — while surrounded by her three young sons, now 1, 3 and 4. Floating above her head is the question, “What’s your excuse?”
The picture has gone viral, with more than 16 million views on Facebook, and has generated more than 12,000 comments. And while much of the input has been of the supportive “you go, girl” variety, plenty of it has been made up of angry, offended personal attacks on the photo subject, calling her everything from “obnoxious” and “fake” to a bad mom and a bully.
Yes, the woman is in shape and gorgeous. What those complaining about fat-shaming and so forth leave out of this is that the woman was 145 pounds when she got married. She got up to 180 when she was pregnant. So, she knows all about being fat. She was fat.
But instead of looking at her as an inspiration and a model, it seems there are no shortage of shambling shoggoths who would rather keep stuffing their obese faces and complaining that society doesn't recognize their inner beauty.
It's not that hard. Eat fewer carbohydrates, lift weights, and do some cardio. That's it. Sure, it sucks when you pass up that doughnut at the meeting or you don't feel like hitting the treadmill, but as the great English philosopher Kate Moss once said, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. Food is no substitute for love, in fact, love is a lot more accessible when you're not handicapping yourself with 30 extra pounds of blubber.
It doesn't come easy for anyone. And the older you get, the harder it is. But unless you're planning on swimming out to sea, don't be a whale. Gluttony and sloth are sins. Fat is a moral failure.
29 comments:
The main thing is eat fewer carbs. Actually stay under 50g of carbs (sugar, starches) per day. The rest helps with health, but if you keep the sugar addiction at best you will be a strong, fit, fatty. Apparently, you can eat as much fat as you want.
For me, it was refactoring my kitchen. No chips, but pork rinds (which I eventually stopped eating). Nothing starchy, "miracle noodle" shiritake noodles substituting for pasta for a while. Forcing myself to eat an egg (well prepared with spices) instead of something sweet or starchy. Low-carb beer, unsweetened tea (herbal, green, or standard), or water instead of anything sweet - sweeteners seem to cause your brain to tell your pancreas to release insulin. I could eat as much as I wanted, but the closest carbs were a 15 minutes walk away. Also (salty) beef broth seems to help.
Steve Gibson has a few pages at grc.com with explanations, podcasts, and links. dietdoctor.com and Zoe Harcombe also have much to say. Thomas Woods has gone Paleo which is also low-carb. Lawrence Lustig and Gary Taubes explain the toxicity of fructose and why "a calorie isn't a calorie".
A wasted heroin addict doesn't look beautiful, and there are "meth" posters showing even worse. Why should sugar/carb addicts be any different?
The largest problem is people who don't believe government on anything else eat based on the grainy "food pyramid". But it helps sell drugs to treat "bad" cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and the rest. Big Pharma wants us sick. Big Ag wants to sell the cheapest, addictive foods.
This is an even bigger "science" scandal than AGW or evolution. "Science" via the government has been telling us to eat addictive poison, and that we have a moral problem when we gain weight (when a heroin addict goes through withdrawal, is it a moral problem that he pukes his guts out, or a physiological consequence?).
Everyone I've known who eats LCHF has dropped weight, gotten healthier, even "cured" their type 2 diabetes. And they can eat as much as they want, just no carbs. But they aren't hungry. I'm sedentary, but down to one meal (and maybe a snack) per day. If I'm active, I get more hungry, eat more, but there is often a point when my appetite shuts off - like it going "thunk", and I have to say "can I have a box" and put away half my plate. Some give into the carbs (I did once - for some reason one of my favorite restaurant would only give a free dessert as a reward, and I did it - I gained 10 pounds and felt sick until I got back on the wagon; I literally find sweets and most starches unappetizing, except for, and wish it would apply to fresh baked bread).
It takes some effort to pull the sweet tooth - 2 weeks induction (<20g carbs), but once over the hump, it becomes easy to sustain (though I sometimes have to explain why I don't want the bun but do want mayo).
Ha, you guys and your carbs hate.
I'm vegetarian, so carbs are a major part of my diet.
The difference is that I don't consume any processed food carb crap.
If it is sold in Walmart or other major retailer, I doubt it is in our kitchen.
So, I suppose I agree with you on carbs, IF by carbs you mean most bread made with highly refined wheat, white rice, pasta, potatoes, almost all breakfast cereals made by big food companies, instand oatmeal, popcorn, and the like.
Most mothers buying food in the supermarket go for convenience 100% of the time over nutrition.
I see the effects here every day at work, where about 85% of the workforce is overweight, and about 70% are obese. Guess which kinds of food are popular here? Weight Watchers has a large contingent. Highly processed, over salted, crap food which I wouldn't feed to my chickens for free.
I suspect that part of the problem is that some people can't distinguish shaming from "I hate you."
I'm a low-carb guy. "Vegetarian" is Algonquin for "lousy hunter."
But regarding Maria Kang, no wonder the fatties are bellowing. She's destroying one of their most cherished excuses - getting pregnant and staying fat after. They want to use that as their get out of obligations free card "I had a baby!"
My wife ate like crap and didn't exercise during her first pregnancy. She got up close to 200 lbs (do keep in mind she is six feet tall). She hated it and worked hard to lose the weight. After that, she worked out and ate better during pregnancy. She gave birth to our youngest just short of her 40th birthday. I have a picture of my wife at 40 wearing a bikini and holding a six-month old she gave birth to. So yeah, what excuse does a 28 year old land beast have?
Vox,
I think you have it wrong on the fatties.
A fat women and a women with short hair practically scream out "I don't care what men like, I'm self adsorbed and you have to change to suit me!"
This is perfectly fine. It's great even. It makes it easy for the young bucks to spot the chicks they need to avoid.
No surprise there are haters. Women hate women. Fat women hate thin women.
And fat women with 3 kids REALLY HATE thin women with 3 kids.
Of course they get defensive when their fat excuse - "I have kids" - is proven to be crap. How dare she challenge their bs excuses. Female solipsism at its finest.
The returns for a woman for staying in the 20-23 or so BMI range are so crazy it is hard for me to imagine, as a man, why there are so many obese women in America. With totally average features, you're talking about practically automatic admission to the 70 or 80s percentiles in terms of attractiveness. Add a very small amount of genetic luck and you could be pushing into the low 90s. The men available to a woman in the 80th percentiles in the US are pretty damned good. This isn't rocket science, your 'sisters' have seriously lowered the bar for you.
180 lbs when pregnant?
Ooh, been there and done that! Three times!
Still got back to my original weight of 135 lbs, and at 5'6, that gives me a BMI of 21.8. Perfectly normal, in other words.
What women hate more than anything else is other women who DID gain a lot of weight while pregnant, and who then took it off. She's getting the hate for PROVING that losing weight is possible. If she only gained 12 lbs with each pregnancy (and some women really do gain that little), it would be put down to genes, or an eating disorder.
But nope. She got as porky as the rest of us, and then took it off.
That's the message women really hate. It shows that your weight is really whatever you decide it will be, except in very rare circumstances. Oh wow! You mean it's your body and your choice?
Who woulda thunk it?
the great English philosopher Kate Moss
This slays me. But her point is, of course, true. But Dove, et al. don't make any money that way.
I know several moms that are fit like that. They look fit and trim indeed, although they are annoying as hell with their constant talk of calories and protein and carbs, etc. All they seem to focus on is their fitness and food intake, to the point that it gets obsessive and very competitive. A couple of the moms probably have eating disorders and have slowly become too thin. I get it, I'm a bit of a fitness nut myself, but man, these chicks define themselves by their weight. None of them can cook. All eat and feed their families shit processed foods. It's just as unattractive as being fat.
Pendulum swings both ways is all I'm saying.
The returns for a woman for staying in the 20-23 or so BMI range are so crazy it is hard for me to imagine, as a man, why there are so many obese women in America. With totally average features, you're talking about practically automatic admission to the 70 or 80s percentiles in terms of attractiveness.
Yes, the difference is huge, if you'll pardon the pun. I often say that it's rare that I see a girl between 20 and my age who's thin who isn't at least doable. She has to have a hideous face, look like a meth addict or something, to completely turn me off. On the other hand, it's just as rare that I see one who's noticeably overweight (maybe 30+ pounds; it's hard for me to judge numbers, but when there are bulges in the wrong places, it's too much) who IS doable. If I think "fat girl" at 50 yards, it's over before I see her face (let alone her personality). I've even seen the same girl, 6 months apart, who had me panting one time and backing away the next, because she gained maybe 20 pounds in between.
For a girl, shedding the extra weight is like a man learning game, getting fit, making a good income, driving a sports car, and having good hair, all rolled into one. There is no substitute.
Fat women hate thin women.
This. It took me years to convince my wife that this is why our fat neighbor doesn't like her. As the fat neighbor has lost weight, she's gotten nicer. But a quad of other fat moms we've had to deal with finally made my case for me: They're bitchy to my wife and another thin mom in the bunch, but they LOVE the chunks.
They look fit and trim indeed, although they are annoying as hell with their constant talk of calories and protein and carbs, etc
People obsessing over anything are annoying. If they spent the same time talking about Spongebob, it would be just as irritating. But yes, there is a trend of people who workout/diet and talk about it all the time like it is a status symbol.
... Because in America, it is.
Also, this is "mean" or whatever, but the worst thing ever:
When through a shirt (and possibly a jacket) you can see a woman's lower back breasts while she stands upright. (Double points off if they're bigger than her actual breasts).
"Gluttony and sloth are sins." I have to admit, in all my years of attending church I never ONCE heard a message against those sins. I asked my wife years ago, "why is it that the church so freely waxes its wrath against the easy sins like homosexuality and abortion, but when it comes to addressing the great epidemic of gluttony that is clearly visible in its all obesic glory, we hear silence?" Well, I know the answer, it's because even Christians don't take their sin seriously. Gluttony is labeled as one of the seven deadliest sins (and it is literally deadly, my cousin who struggled with obesity all his life just died at 36 from a heart attack), but everyone is too afraid to label it as such, evil has become good, beware of those days I remember hearing somewhere.
Obesity and gluttony are not addressed because the pastor or the pastor's wife sometimes can be guilty of it themselves, and a good amount of the church members themselves are guilty of it.
Especially when you consider that "gluttony" doesn't just cover food, but any drastic pursuit of more than you need. "Conspicuous consumption" and "consumerism" are just gluttony applied to other goods. So all those thin people in church who buy their kids designer clothes and make sure to have the latest cell phone aren't going to be very comfortable with a sermon on gluttony either.
Obesity and gluttony are not addressed because the pastor or the pastor's wife sometimes can be guilty of it themselves, and a good amount of the church members themselves are guilty of it.
By this logic, the pastor can never speak out against any sin, because everyone in the congregation is guilty of every single one of the Seven Deadly Sins at one time or another.
How interesting that she also has no stretch marks, despite her rapid changes in weight and size.
Damn Vox, You shouldn't have gone there. Now all those fat chicks won't have sex with you.
Also, you just cyber bullied all of them, so, by your standards, all their parents are now free to try to beat you up.
--Hale
That stomach is hard to pull off after 3 kids. My wife was 115 when I married her, and 120-2 now after 10 years and 3 kids, but I suspect she would have to go down to 110 while really working her core in order to fix what those kids did to her stomach.
Carbs are fine as long as they are not processed or junk. For example, sweet potatoes are much healthier than soda or processed protein bars.
Man, if women generally took care of themselves, especially after having kids, I would be much more willing to get married.
Yes, when fitness-oriented people talk about carbs, generally what they mean is the processed crap (mainly wheat and corn-based) that has Americanized the world's eating habits.
VD: It doesn't come easy for anyone. And the older you get, the harder it is.
Interestingly, a study of native hunter/gatherer/gardening populations around the world found that these cultures have absolutely zero problem with weight throughout their lifetimes, even where high-carb yams, sweet potatoes and such are the staple food. They found that generally weight is highest at highest fertility (teens, twenties) and then actually drops a little for the rest of their lives.
Obesity and gluttony are not addressed because the pastor or the pastor's wife sometimes can be guilty of it themselves, and a good amount of the church members themselves are guilty of it.
By this logic, the pastor can never speak out against any sin, because everyone in the congregation is guilty of every single one of the Seven Deadly Sins at one time or another.
I said "isn't", not "shouldn't".
I have one possibly helpful thing to add on this topic. A father can really make an impression with his daughter if he discusses this issue of not getting fat with her at the right age. As a child, my father's best friend Roy, also his first cousin, and his family spent a good deal of time with our family. Dad's family won the genetic lottery and they were both ridiculously handsome, fit men. Roy's wife was grossly obese, slovenly and completely disgusting. She wore no make up, never fixed her hair. I could not understand how they had ever gotten together. He deserved much better. As a 9 year old, this really bothered me and one day I ask Dad, "Why did Roy marry her? He is so handsome and she is so fat and ugly. It's not fair that he has to be married to her!"
And Dad said, "She was a very cute, skinny girl when they got married. She then had 3 children, never bothered to lose the weight, gained more, and stopped looking good for her husband. She didn't have enough respect for her husband or her marriage to continue to be the woman he married. That was her job and she blew it. It's completely unfair to Roy that he married a hot, cute woman and now he's stuck with that fat, smelly obese woman because she doesn't care about anything but stuffing her face. She certainly doesn't care about Roy."
Well, that's how I remember it, but grain of salt. My Dad was pissed off about it and my question set off quite the rant because he loved Roy. And then he looked at me, eyes burning into me, and said, "Don't you ever do that to your husband, Lana. You be the woman he married. You stay the weight you were when you married him. You look as good for him in 20 years as you did on your first date. You make him wake up every morning happy he picked you and you will both be happy. "
And I did and told my girls the same story. The speech they got when they all got married was nothing they hadn't heard before, but they were told again. Their Father: "Don't get fat!" Their Mother: "Remember Roy!"
You guys can make a difference.
I have been listening to some interesting commentary from some who claim to be on the political right, claiming that a woman like this can't be a good mother, because it is obvious she neglects her children to work out so much. I've heard relatives say the same as they excuse themselves for not making the effort, they don't want to neglect their children. Yet, if they are so worried about neglecting their children, they an exercise at home. Beyond that, the local family-friendly gyms often have childcare facilities on site, where they can be left for an hour while the parents exercise...
I have been listening to some interesting commentary from some who claim to be on the political right, claiming that a woman like this can't be a good mother, because it is obvious she neglects her children to work out so much.
It would be interesting to see if these same people would criticize an overweight working mom who sticks her kids in daycare for 10-12 hours a day.
Kang is an inspiration. From reading the FAQs on her website, she manages to be a stay-at-home mom who takes care of her three children while running a business and a non-profit and staying in fabulous shape. What women ought to take away from her example is that it's possible to be a dynamic, healthy mother. Too bad so many women refuse to see that instead of giving themselves over to envy. Personally, as a mom-to-be who is moderately freaking out about how I'm going to do half of what this woman is doing, she's given me hope!
This is awesome!! I encourage her and remind others this is thinspiration!!
I think it all boils down to whether a woman sees herself primarily as a wife or a mother (or both at the same time--giving each equal value) after the children arrive. It seems to me that the women who see themselves as wives are more dedicated to being in shape for their husbands. Those who see themselves as mothers first, ie., the relatives I spoke of, don't even seem to care about their husbands anymore. Putting the children first, and I heard a relative say this, means that the husband comes second.
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