An exercise-loving mother-of-three has come under fire after posting a photograph of her toned body to Facebook, captioned 'What's your excuse?'
Maria Kang, 32, from Los Angeles, California, who runs an fitness-focused non-profit organization from home, appears knelt alongside her three young sons in the image, dressed in a workout bra and matching micro shorts.
While many of the 17,000-plus commentators cite her as an 'inspiration' some have also accused her of being 'insulting', 'obnoxious' and a 'fat shaming bully'.
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Indeed, one woman wrote: 'You are . . . hurtful to women and think way too much of yourself. Disgusting is what you are!'
And a mother-of-two named Sarah added on Ms Kang's website, mariakang.com: 'I hope you realize why some people are not just offended, but also hurt by your post as well.
'First: many of us end up with stretch marks after kids…. A LOT OF THEM! I have two kids and both have caused my skin to stretch soo bad my stomach, from my rib cage straight down the the middle of my vaginal area, look like the U.S. road atlas.
'Second: I am an avid runner. I run my two kids in a double jogger. Do I look like a runner? Nope. As a matter of fact, unless people know me, they don't believe me. I do half and full marathons.
'Maybe it's time we stop tip-toeing around people's feelings and get to the point.'
She notes that she does have stretchmarks and excess skin from three pregnancies but these 'scars' encourage her to 'keep striving' and 'never stop'.
'Motherhood is beautiful AND it can make you better!' she adds.
‘I wanted to say, “I know you think you don't have time if you have kids. But if I can do it, you can do it, too’"
The pretty brunette says that she likes to do 30 to 60 minutes of strength training and cardio every morning, five to six days a week.
On a typical day she tries to get to the gym by 6.30am and then returns home to 'feed, clean and play' with her sons.
She then focuses attention on the non-profit business she runs, Fitness without Borders, which promotes fitness education in schools and local communities.
According to Yahoo, her 'what's your excuse?' image has received over 16 million views on Facebook, since it was posted a year ago.
She decided to re-post it to her 80,000-plus followers last month, tacking on an apology, after she noticed it was attracting dozens of negative comments.