An overweight woman stood up to fat-shaming by sharing a photo of herself at the gym along with a copy of her recent blood work to prove that she is perfectly healthy despite being called a ‘hog’ by a group of men before her workout.
Brittany Michelle Hines was at Planet Fitness in Westminster, Maryland, when she shared the snapshots of herself on Facebook, revealing that she publicly shamed for her appearance.
“To the grown a** group of men outside of the Wawa: Your laughter and rude comments didn’t stop me from busting my a** at the gym today,” she wrote.
“Please excuse my lack of makeup and my ratty old clothes,’ the mother-of-one continued. ‘I did not leave the house to impress you today. I went to impress myself and to make my son proud of his mom.”
Brittany went on to explain that she has been focused on improving her life, and that her cholesterol is at 118, which is ‘well below the 200 limit for normal’.
“This “hog” as you so graciously deemed me has been on a journey to better herself,’ she said. ‘My doctor was blown away by my blood work.”
Brittany added that she doesn’t have diabetes or high blood pressure either.
“How many of you can say the same?’ she asked. ‘Especially those of you who are clinically obese? This “fat a**” almost gave up today. After being ridiculed I sat in my car in the parking lot and cried.”
She noted that at that moment she ‘wanted nothing more than to go home binge watch “River Monsters”.’
“But I didn’t,” she said. “I gave you all a big f**k you and busted my fat a**. Over a hour, of sweating and huffing, but I did it.”
“Now please excuse my big fat ass as I go home to my loving son who probably wants me to run around with him for another hour.”
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“I got called names on my way to the gym; I still went and had an amazing workout.”
Brittany also shared her photos and powerful message on Imgur on Monday, and the post has been viewed more than 200,000 times.
The young mother, whose son is a 16-month-old named Maxwell, told news sites that she was several weeks into a new gym routine — following months of working out at home — when the troubling incident happened.
She explained that she started working to get healthy in order to better keep up with her young son, as well as to look and feel her best on her wedding day, which she’s looking forward to with her fiancé.
“My first goal is after I lose an additional 60lbs, I want to get a tattoo for my son,” she said, after revealing she’s already dropped 70lbs since giving birth.
And she’s willing to put in the work to reach her goals. With a baby at home, that sometimes means getting up at 4:30am to exercise, but she’s committed to making a change in her life.
“I’m done with excuses. I’m not getting any younger I need to do this now,” she added enthusiastically.
That urgency, though, was first spurred in her after some bad blood work before she got pregnant with Maxwell. While carrying him, she developed gestational diabetes, and ‘quite literally overnight’ changed her eating habits.
“While pregnant I studied up on diet and exercise and starting doing YouTube videos of prenatal yoga at home. That where this all started,” she said.
Many people who read about Brittany’s experience were empowered by her attitude, and took to the comments section to praise her for continuing her workout and sharing such a powerful message.
“You go! You can do it. Ignore dumb a** f**k faces and do things for you and your family and life. We believe in you!” one person wrote.
Another added: “Keep kicking a**, don’t stop, you’re awesome, I would kick back and swap healthy recipes while watching river monsters with you anytime.”
On Tuesday, Brittany returned to Facebook to reveal that she shared her previous post on Imgur and has been amazed by the positive response.
“I was thinking I’d get mostly trolls but maybe a few comments on improving my health,’ she explained. ’12 hours later I have over 13,000 likes’ hundreds of comments and interviews lined up from around the world! I’m crying tears of joy today.”
She also shared her advice for others, saying: “I would tell people who feel discouraged that people are going to judge you, belittle you, and mock you no matter what you do. So just do what makes YOU happy. Also start with small changes. Cutting out sodas doing a family walk after dinner. Baby steps lead to big things.”
Moral of the story… Be kind for everyone is fighting a battle, you know nothing about!
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