Do you think characterizing people as “haters” - or “outraged,” to quote QuickSilver - really contributes anything to the discussion here? There’s been very little hate or outrage here.
Then how about “people that called her names”?
“Hater” seems absolutely perfect: Urban Dictionary: Hater
There hasn’t been all that much of that either, though. Not here, anyway.
Only if you’re trying to stir up trouble. Dial it back.
twickster, MPSIMS moderator
How is this not the perfect description of what’s going on here?
- hater
A person that simply cannot be happy for another person’s success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.
Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesn’t really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock somelse down a notch.
*Susan: You know, Kevin from accounting is doing very well. He just bought a house in a very nice part of town.
Jane (hater): If he is doing so well why does he drive that '89 Taurus?*
The fitness community is surrounded by these types of motivational images. She was talking to that community and they will find it inspirational. They are striving to have that level of fitness, and that type of encouragement helps them reach their goals.
It would be like a single mom of 3 kids holding her PhD dissertation, with the same “What’s your excuse” caption to motivate other PhD students. She’s not trying to motivate everyone to get a PhD.
However, it is frustrating how so many people make excuses as to why they cannot incorporate any amount of exercise or diet changes in their life. You don’t have to look like this woman to be healthy. You don’t have to give up your life to be healthy. But you do need to do something.
Exercise and diet are not leisure activities. You don’t do them because they’re fun activities like playing music, reading or watching TV. They should be important parts of your life regardless of if you enjoy them. Saying you don’t have time to exercise is like saying you don’t have time to do homework or work at a job. There will be significant negative consequences if you don’t take the time to get it done.
SRSLY!
You have said some pretty mean-spirited things about this woman for no reason whatsoever, other than having the gall to put up yet another fitness meme on the internet. She’s bitchy, she looks like a little boy (:rolleyes:), she’s spineless, she’s a fat-shamer, she hates fatties, she blah blah blah the fuck blah. Dude, take a chill tablet.
Would it change people’s opinions if she was average looking and chunky-but-fit?
I love to work out and I agree that exercise should be part of a well balanced life but I disagree with the above. Exercise is absolutely a leisure activities and a luxury to some. One can choose not to pursue it and deal with the consequences. But if you do so, you are not permitted to get all offended when someone chooses the opposite alternative and publicizes his/her success as a way of celebrating their own accomplishment and encouraging others to do the same.
Like me, you too know the answer to that question. 
“The fitness community” is not a single entity, here.
I go to the gym regularly (well, not now, since my ankle is currently in a cast, but still). I have a personal trainer. I track my calories. I still don’t look like her, and I never will.
I didn’t find the message inspiring. It made me feel bad about myself. I do all those things and I’m still not good enough. What’s my excuse?
I’m not faulting her accomplishments. She’s probably a very nice person. I just think her message could have been worded better if she truly wanted to inspire people.
(Incidentally, that response quoted in the OP made me feel very uncomfortable as well. That was waaay too much protesting.)
Word. There is no excuse for not having monkey toes.
Once again, MOL and MsWhatsit have saved me from having to post anything else on the topic. At least sour grapes are low calorie.
I guess everyone needs to look at why they are offended at this particular message. If instead it was a picture of an amputee on top of Mt. Everest, would you feel she was shaming you for not climbing to the top of the world? Or would you be inspired to achieve your own goals, whatever they were?
I take the message as a way of evaluating my goals. If something is truly important, then I must make it a priority and make time for it.
If you truly want to look like her and feel bad you don’t, then make it happen. But the effort and free time isn’t going to just magically appear. You have to make changes in your life to accomplish that goal. What is your excuse? If you truly feel bad you don’t look like that, what’s holding you back and why don’t you de-prioritize those things? If that’s not possible, then learn to find satisfaction in what you have. Don’t feel bad you don’t look like her, and aren’t super rich, and can’t play 8 instruments, and can’t speak French, etc.
I never said I was offended by this. It made me feel bad. I moved on. I’ll never look like her even if could devote all day, every day to working out. I am plagued by chronic injuries. (I tried to train for a 10K and would up in an ankle cast.) I’m generally quite happy with my life.
I just wanted to address the seeming sentiment that anyone who didn’t like it had to be some lazy slob who’d rather sit on their couch eating Doritos and make excuses.
I agree wholeheartedly that fitness and healthy living is a great goal to strive for but, to be fair, going by the pictures on her site (also referenced in post #10), she didn’t look that bad before her ‘fitness evolution’ and she didn’t have very far to go to get to where she is now. A great lot of people have a lot further to go than her and it would take a lot more time, time they may not have.
Another way to look at it is that she achieved the best her that she could be. Now you do the best you that you can be. I don’t think she intended for people to draw absolutes. They did that all on their own. We see this because many comments are like, “Yeah, but my life situation isn’t the same as her life situation”, or, “Yeah, but I’m 20 years older”, or, “Yeah, but I’m 100lb heavier and have stretch marks”.
So far her achievements have even deemed invalid because she overcame an eating disorder, works as a personal trainer, didn’t lose mountains of weight, and has a pretty face. Anyone else want to throw some more attempts to cut down her down into the ring?
To me, that photo looks like someone going “look at me, I’m hot”. Adding “What’s your excuse?” to that is tacky. Maybe that’s cos I’m not part of the fitness community and don’t normally look at people posing like that, or using that meme. People with one leg, or old guys in T-shirts don’t elicit the same kind of response. Maybe I am jealous of her, because I would never look that good, not matter how fit I was (stretch marks, etc) but I am not jealous of her fitness or energy or commitment.
I do think her look and her attitude is not for me, and it puts me off. Maybe she is inspirational to fitness-y people, but she is equally anti-inspirational to a bunch of other people, because she seems to confirm a bunch of stereotypes: fit people are vain, are driven, are intolerant. If I see a guy with one leg in the Paralympics, or climbing Everest, then I think he is obviously super driven but I wouldn’t have to be like that just to get a bit fitter. She is like one of the reasons I’d be worried about going to the gym in the first place.
Huh. And here I thought one of the points of being an adult was that I don’t need an excuse for how I decide to spend my time.
I’m a healthy weight, but I could be a lot fitter. An hour or two of serious exercise a day would do it. Instead, I’ve decided to spend that hour or two hanging out with my husband/hanging out with my kids/working/hanging out with my friends/reading/going for walks/goofing off/sleeping/making shhhh noises at the baby in the middle of the night.
Presumably this woman spends less time than I do on at least one of those activities. I don’t feel that she needs an excuse for that. She’s decided to prioritise what works best for her and her family, and she seems to be doing a great job of it; I’ve decided to prioritise what works best for me and mine, and I’m not doing too badly. Why should I need an excuse either?
I’ve gathered from this thread that this ‘What’s your excuse?’ thing is a meme, but I’d feel exactly the same way if she were blind or in a wheelchair: I still wouldn’t need an excuse for making different decisions from her about what to do with my time. Being at peak fitness isn’t some kind of absolute universal duty. I don’t need an excuse for deciding it’s not my top priority, any more than this woman needs an excuse for deciding that my top priority isn’t hers.