"No Excuses" Mom Maria Kang Gained 10 Pounds
You might recognize Maria Kang, author of The No More Excuses Diet, from the photo she posted on Facebook several years ago. In it, Kang is wearing boy shorts and a sports bra eight months after she gave birth to her third son. Her other two children, at 2 and 3 years old, were also in the photo underneath the text, "What’s your excuse?"
Because some people thought the post shamed new moms who don’t snap back into shape ASAP (or ever), it pissed off a lot of people. They called Maria out for prioritizing her body over her kids and for shaming other women who really don’t have time or energy to get back into shape after giving birth.
In March 2015, she clarified for Cosmopolitan.com: "I didn’t say, ’There’s never an excuse.’ There are definitely permissible excuses, however I will always stand behind my message that health needs to be a priority." And to further set the record straight, and show her support for mothers of all shapes and sizes, Maria spearheaded a body-positive calendar featuring diverse body types last September.
But the mom has had sort of a rough year since: She’s separated from her husband, dealt with depression, and been preoccupied by her children, travel, and various life events, according to commentary she posted on Instagram. Nonetheless, Maria recently posed for and posted two photos of herself in a bikini weighing 10 pounds more than she did in her original "What’s your excuse?" photo.
While Maria says she typically preps for photo shoots for up to three months in advance, during which she diets, amps up her workouts, pampers her skin, and tries to rid herself of water weight, she didn’t follow her typical routine to prepare for the impromptu photo shoot above. "This is a raw photo with absolutely no retouching, no preparation, and no shame," she wrote, adding that she knows she’s not out of shape, just particularly hard on herself because she doesn’t see people who look like her represented on magazine covers. (FWIW, she also told Cosmopolitan.com she’s long struggled with body image issues and suffered from bulimia because of it.)
Still, Maria hopes to inspire other women to celebrate their bodies no matter what state of fitness they’re working with. "I’m finding my beauty again, I’m discovering my strength again, and I’m relearning what it means to be brave, bold, and unapologetic about where I am in my life’s journey," she wrote. It’s something most of us could use to work on too - no excuses.
Follow Elizabeth on Twitter.
You Might Also Like
