Maria Kang is a mother of three and founder of No Excuse Mom.
Last year, she posted a photograph of herself with the caption “What’s your excuse?” and the image went viral across the world’s social media.
More recently, Maria followed up on her first campaign, and posted this photo:
I am the founder of an organisation called the Body Image Movement. And what that’s about is ensuring the world sees a more balanced view of health, women’s bodies and body diversity.
Too often we only see one type of body being celebrated because, heaven forbid, a woman can fall outside of society’s ideals and still be confident, healthy, happy and proud.
So? I decided to post my own version of Maria’s photo online. Here I am in all my glory:
My response photo is not about ‘hating on’ Maria Kang or other super-fit mothers like her; not in the slightest. Maria fights her corner and I’ll fight mine, and at the end of the day, two women can have opposing views of what’s healthy and what’s beautiful and that’s perfectly okay.
But you see, I didn’t like the poster “What’s your excuse”. I didn’t like what it implied. And more importantly I didn’t like how it made a lot of women feel. Someone has to stand up and say, “Hey, there is another side to this, you can have a body that doesn’t conform to the standard benchmark of what is deemed beautiful/sexy/healthy, etc and THAT IS OK… in fact it’s more than ok, it’s freaking FABULOUS!”
We are constantly being fed these messed up images of perfection, with the intention of making us feel crappy, so we line the pockets of companies that are preying on women’s insecurities. And you know what? Enough is enough.
Women are capable of so much more than they allow themselves to be. But we are being held back by low self-esteem and poor-body image. It’s time for women to see more imagery like the one I posted. Cos’ cellulite is ok, stretch marks are fine, arms that flap about when you wave to someone is perfectly normal.
And as for Maria Kang, I look forward to catching up with her in person soon and being able to demonstrate to women and young girls everywhere that two women can healthily and without any hair pulling speak ‘different languages’ and fight in different corners amicably and respectfully.
For a little bit of context, here are some other photos of post baby bellies, collected as part of Mamamia’s Body Positive Project.
Please share this post to help celebrate body diversity.
Top Comments
Dear Taryn, I'm sorry that you feel this way about no excuses. I think perhaps that you may have done what people did to you with your picture...make judgements on the basis of the image. I'm an Australian living in Houston and I have been member of the no excuses community/Facebook page for over a year. I can happily say that no excuses celebrates women's bodies of all shapes and sizes and is a great source of information on fitness and health related issues from healthy recipie ideas to how to avoid shin splints. I like it because of the huge variety of goals the page encourages. If you want to fit into smaller pants that's cool, if you're training for a marathon someone will give you pointers. If you did a mud run you will get ass slaps and high fives, if you want to know if it's normal to fart during yoga...etc, you get the point I'm sure. It is one of the only places I have seen where women will post pictures of themselves wearing not much and exposing themselves to what could be critical eyes, but in fact Is overwhelmingly supportive and encouraging. I'm also sorry that you're 'journey' was so traumatic for you. One thing I will say is that had you been on the no excuses page, very few people would have encouraged you to undertake such a massive transformation in such a short period of time. The advice is slow and steady. Lifestyle change through a healthy diet and exercise. I enjoy being part of a group of like minded women. There's no prescribed aesthetic that we all need to aim for or no set in stone schedule of time spent exercising. Maria Kang and others moderate the site but the advice is from normal women to normal women, mostly judgement free. Sign up through Facebook and see first hand. I realise that the tag line what's your excuse is confronting but to be fair no more so than the get over your self one you used in a blog recently. I appreciate you message and to be honest it is very similar to the one proposed by no excuses. Neither 'movement's is in opposition to each other. I've re-read this and I am smiling to myself. I kind of sound like an infomercial but the truth is I'm just a mother struggling to keep some kind of balance in my life. I have five children and I'm at uni and I like the support, advice and encouragement I get from my fellow mums who have the same issues.
All the best.
Oonagh
I applaud you for what you are doing. I am a mother of soon to be 3, and my body looks like yours. I run half marathons and eat healthy, yet no matter the amount of training I do (which I do because I love it not just to lose weight) I still have my baby belly and no 6 pack super athlete body shape. After I completed my first half marathon I was devastated, because I did not look like the "perfect" runner. It took a lot of determination to get back on the trail running and working out again. I had to learn that I am not a teenager anymore and that I cannot train like in my elite athlete days where I spend 20+ hours a week exercising...I have children now and they take up most of my time. Plus, after pregnancy my body changed, even though I reached my pre-pregnancy weight my pre-pregnancy body was gone. I am also a personal trainer with my degree in Kinesiology and often deal with young mothers that are dissatisfied with their bodies, and most of it comes from their body image. It is nice to have some "images" out there that are not of models or super athletes; even if they are mothers themselves. So thank you for sharing and braving the brutal comments that are posted here! One thing very few people realize too is that you CAN be OVERWEIGHT and healthy and FIT. In fact it is BETTER to be overweight and in GOOD PHYSICAL SHAPE, than to be skinny and sedentary!!!