Fat-Shaming or Motivation?

          I saw an article on Thursday that really got me thinking and I figured my Friday entry was as good a place as any. I try to keep Friday more humorous than most but as I have explained, Furyan Strength is about creating a better you through bodybuilding. This is not just limited to the physical. This should include mental and spiritual improvement as well. So a prominent celebrity on Facebook posted an article debating whether something is motivating or fat shaming. The article revolved around a 33-year-old single mother from the UK who wrote in an Instagram post, “I have a six pack, a kid and no excuse.” The picture when viral and people are divided. Some are saying she should be proud of what she has. Others are saying that she is fat shaming.

           I am oddly conflicted by posts such as this. My message has long been one that comfort is the bane of self-improvement. As much as I love Meghan Trainor, I do not believe in her message that every inch of me is perfect from the be bottom to the top. While I am proud of the work that I am doing, I still inevitably feel that I have a long way to go. I still hate my gut. I want more defined muscles. But I am infinitely better than where I started. I like the current size of my muscles but now I am trying to strip away that layer of fat that is concealing them. 

          I am really not trying to blow my own horn here but I think there is a difference between putting out something like Furyan Strength that reveals HOW I did something as opposed to just a woman posting pictures saying, “Look at how sexy I am! Yes, I have a kid but look I am in shape. How come you aren’t?” Now, I could be way off base here. I do not follow this particular person on Instagram where her message went viral but if she is not posting HOW she achieved her body, well, then she is just flaunting. That is something that I have a problem with. 

          One picture doesn’t paint the whole picture. Is she up at 4:30 in the morning doing cardio? What is her diet regiment? I seriously doubt she is just doing a set of planks and calling it a day. Is she a personal trainer, yoga instructor, or Pilates instructor and so it is her job to workout six hours a day? If that is the case, then I feel she has a leg up on a woman who sits behind a desk in a cubical or stands behind a teaching lectern all day.

          There are times where I do look at myself in the mirror and wish I could look like John Cena or Hugh Jackman. But then I remind myself. Hugh Jackman is a millionaire. The film studios grant him access to personal trainers. He can hire personal chefs and strength and conditioning coaches. I can’t even afford a housekeeper.

          And this is where the problem lies, people. We spend too much time comparing ourselves to other people. We say, “Oh, I wish I looked like [insert celebrity name here].” But these are often unrealistic goals. The only person you need to be better than in the person you were yesterday. That is the demon worth defeating.

          Of course, just because a person has a six-pack or can bench press more doesn’t make them better than someone who doesn’t. Whenever I post a “selfie” of all the hard work I am doing, I always accompany it with a message of how I am not special because truthfully, I am not. I post these things to motivate with the mentality of “if I can do it, you can do it.” But people at the Wellness Center also recognize that I am in there five days a week, going hard, sweating up a storm. I have heard people say, “I am tired just watching him.” But to a professional lifter, I am sure I still look like I am amateur.

          Don’t kid yourself though. When this British mom is posting a selfie, she is not rolling out of bed looking like that. No one takes a bodybuilding selfie before their workout. It is always after. And there is a reason for that. It is because we want to look good!

          If you are posting a picture saying “What is your excuse?”, that just infers you are better than others and I consider you an attention whore. If she just would have posted, “If I can do it, you can do it. And this is how I did it…” that person then becomes my new hero.