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Inspirational or "Fat Shaming"

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by YankeeFan, Oct 19, 2013.

  1. britwrit

    britwrit Well-Known Member

    I'm not married and I don't have kids. However, even I can imagine the firestorm of wrath that would descend upon me if I asked my imaginary wife - working full-time and having giving birth to three kids in three years - to start hitting the gym.

    In fact, I'll throw in $10 towards the divorce costs of any man here who's insane enough to hand his beloved this picture and chirp "Come on, honey. it'll only take thirty minutes a day!" And bonus money for anyone who mentions wanting homemade sweet potato pancakes every morning.

    Mothers get held up to impossible expectations all the time. Asking them to look supermodel hot while having three adorable tots (t-shirts coordinated perfectly with her gym clothes) is probably a step too far.
     
  2. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    Those are excuses. They may be valid, but nonetheless excuses. That was her point.

    It's easy to come up with a million reasons for not working out. It's easier than getting up early or finding time during a busy day, dragging your ass into the gym or basement or street or wherever you go, and beating the crap out of your body for an hour. It's easier than sweating and ripping up your muscles and wanting to puke. Way easier than trying to find something decent to eat so your diet doesn't undo all your hard work.

    Training to have a body like that is fucking HARD. You have to want that end result, more than you want the reasons for not having it. You don't have to do it, it's not for everyone. But most people DO make excuses, and they know it.
     
  3. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    The picture was a challenge to women to come join her workouts. It wasn't intended as an insult.

    She was telling women that if she could do it, so could they. I don't see that as snobbery.
     
  4. waterytart

    waterytart Active Member

    Can a mother of three children who haven't started school yet spend one hour a day getting/staying in shape?

    Of course.

    As long as her husband is a grown-up. And her PRIORITY isn't learning Mandarin. Or Mandarin cooking. Or any of the 8,347 things someone might be validly interested in that don't involve the gym. Or none of the kids has health issues. Or none of the kids' grandparents has health issues.

    So, yes, it can be done.
     
  5. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    It's the "zeal of the converted" type deal. You could live a perfectly fine and, yes, healthy life without going to the lengths she did. We probably all have something we spend a ton of time on that we try to justify to others, as a way of justifying ourselves, I suppose.
     
  6. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    It's easy for her to point out that everyone else has excuses when she only has one job (of being a mom) while millions of other women have two. Or more. To her, working out for an hour a day may be her second job. Except for most women, that would end up being their third, or fourth job.

    Let's see how much energy she would have to work out if she was juggling getting the kids to daycare, commuting an hour to work, working all day, picking up the kids at daycare, then coming home. If she was able to do all that, and work out and have the body she has, more power to her. It'd give her lecture about excuses a little more validity than just pointing out others' faults.
     
  7. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    I am self-employed. I own two six-bedroom residential care homes for the elderly called Comforts of Home. Caring for elders in their last living years is an honor and another passion of mine. Residents are much like family, for they have witnessed every pregnancy and every new arrival. I have witnessed them laugh, eventually decline and am sometimes present at their death bed. Being self-employed provides flexible hours, however, it also means I could be up at 2am or often working during the weekends.
     
  8. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Aw, shit, I had looked up the website that was mentioned in the story, and clicked on the "About Me" page. The stay-at-home mom was a different woman.

    I misread, and I'm willing to admit I did so.

    That being said, there are better ways to encourage people to get in shape rather than trying to shame them.
     
  9. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    I just don't see it as shaming. I see it as issuing a challenge.

    She didn't call anyone names, or ridicule them.
     
  10. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    I took it the same way. She's a personal trainer. It's her job to convince people this sort of thing is possible.

    You have to look pretty damn good to pull that off, of course... and she does.
     
  11. JRoyal

    JRoyal Well-Known Member

    I love when people say things like, "Poor people are fat because they're lazy and I'm not because I'm so much more awesome." I'm sure it makes them feel so much better about themselves even though it really shows a pretty poor understanding of the underlying issues. But whatever. Everyone's entitled to their own way of making themselves feel good about themselves. If looking down on others is how you do it, whatever.
     
  12. JRoyal

    JRoyal Well-Known Member

    On the OP, I have no problem with the poster. Some people respond to this kind of motivation. Some don't. Some people will see it as shaming. Others will see it as a challenge. Odds are, the people in the latter category will be people who have less weight to lose. But even on shows like "The Biggest Loser," you see people who used to be in really good shape who let themselves go. Seeing a poster like this could be motivation for them. Instead of just seeing the person in the poster, they'll be seeing who they were and who they want to be again.
     
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