'Fit mom' Maria Kang says 'fat acceptance' is bad for our health

Another day, another women's body image hoo har in the news.

This time, the mum who caused controversy for posting a picture of her super-fit self in gym wear with her three sons asking 'what's your excuse?' has hit out at the culture of 'fat acceptance'.

Maria Kang made herself millions of mum enemies earlier this year when she suggested that everyone should work towards getting a body like hers.

And now she's voiced her opinions again after being shocked by a plus-size lingerie brand's selfie campaign that's encouraged overweight women to post their proud body pictures of themselves in their underwear.

The campaign is designed to encourage women to feel good about themselves, but Maria has warned that this sends the wrong message that it's OK to be unhealthy.

In a comment piece for TIME magazine, written after she was banned for voicing her opinions on her Facebook group, Maria asked: "Has the growing movement promoting “fat acceptance” and even “fat pride” gone so far that now we need a countervailing movement promoting “fit pride”?"

[New mum posts unbelievably flat belly pic just three days after birth]
[Are post-baby slim mums flaunting their tums in the media bad for our health?]

It's easy to reach for an excuse to explain why it's easier for Maria to get fit than the rest of us - she's probably a stay at home mum, right? Has a nanny? Runs a fitness blog full-time? Has a loaded husband? - while the rest of us have jobs and stresses, money worries and other issues that lead us to put fitness on the back burner. But do we know if any of that's true?

And while the way she's gone about it has the self-absorbed tinge of focusing more on looks rather than health, if you listen to what she says, she makes a good point.

Of course there is no 'normal' or 'right' way women should look or size we should be - we're all different. But putting our own health and fitness as one of our top priorities in life is vital for ourselves, our loved ones and society. And getting the balance between being happy with how we look and putting the effort in to stay fit and keep healthy is something we all have to manage.

So while we didn't particularly appreciate Maria's abs being thrown in our face, perhaps we can take it as inspiring rather than shaming after all.

As she says: "I, Maria Kang, am a real woman — and I’ve stood up. It’s not hate speech to be fit and proud."

What do you think?