"Excuses Don't Burn Calories"

Hello my sweets,

I saw a picture of this shirt today on Tumblr, and felt compelled to write a quick little post about
it, which will probably turn into a full-fledged body politics rant, you know me:)
This won't be well written, or well researched, it will just be hella important.

This shirt was found at a Target, in the workout section.
At first, it seems fair. Technically, excuses such as "I'm too tired" do not get you to the gym. Fine.
But what really ticks me off is the fact that the end goal of exercise and maintaining of good health, as the garment suggests, is solely based on calorie counting.

1. It has been proved time and time again that exercise is only 10% of the weight loss cake; the bigger piece consists of food consumption, or lack thereof. So technically speaking, excuses don't burn calories, but honey, "chin ups" don't do too much either.

2. I must have missed the gym rat memo this month that dictated that all human beings should exercise to lose weight. Here are 10 reasons, or "excuses", to work out that have nothing to do with being a size 0:

1. to train for a marathon
2. to develop strength
3. to heal an injury
4. to improve cardiovascular health
5. to manage stress
6. to achieve self-set goals
7. to increase flexibility
8. to manage anger
9. to keep up with kids/grandkids
10. to be HEALTHY 

3. Being healthy has nothing to do with calories, or size, or a dumb shirt at Target. 

Being healthy means being confident and happy, treating your body with care by feeding it good nutrients, but also spoiling its tastebuds once in a while. 

Being healthy means being able to enjoy life to its fullest, without anything holding you back.
Being healthy means, above all else, treating your mind and body healthily, whatever that means for you.

So if you see this shirt at your local Target, set it on fire. Or don't, I don't want my college applications to be labeled with a big fat red "Target terrorist" label. mmkay? ;)

xoxo

Gabby