A Fitness Trainer Tried To Body-Shame A Woman Into Buying His Services

Advertising your services as a fitness trainer is one thing, but trying to shame someone into hiring you is another.

Cassie Young, a digital director on the radio show The Bert Show, says she was recently contacted by someone on Twitter who claimed to be a trainer who could "get [her] in shape for [her] wedding." Though Young politely declined, the man was relentless.

"I know you want to look your best on [your] wedding day," he wrote. "If you don't hire me hire someone. Those pictures lasts [sic] centuries."

Young posted screenshots to her Facebook page on Thursday "because I want every woman and man to know that it does not MATTER what you look like."

In the screenshots, Young can be seen expertly shutting him down and explaining that she has already worked hard to accept herself and doesn't feel the need to "get in shape."

"You can accept how you look but you can’t be happy with the way you look," he replied. "You can’t lie to yourself… I just wish the whole big body acceptance people would accept the fact that they are not happy with their bodies."

Obviously, there's a lot to unpack in his comments, but you probably don't need us to tell you how wrong it is to say that bigger people can't be happy with their bodies.

Young told Yahoo that when she saw the first message, she wasn't offended, since he was just offering his services. But as the conversation went on, it was increasingly offensive that this stranger was not only body-shaming her, but also "plant a seed of doubt in my head during my engagement."

Though she told Yahoo that she hasn't named the man because she believes that "no one should be vilified because they’re ignorant," she wrote on Facebook that she wanted to post the screenshots to remind people that "your inner-value and self-worth comes from YOU, not what you look like."

"Don’t let people like this try to convince you otherwise, because they’ll try — but it’s because they don’t understand yet," she wrote. "Life is waiting for you. It's too short to be spent worrying about a belly roll."

Refinery29 has reached out to Young for comment and will update this article when we receive a response.