'Hot mom' slammed for Facebook photo asking 'What's your excuse?'

Maria Kang and the picture that has everyone talking

Maria Kang and the picture that has everyone talking

A 32-year-old California fitness enthusiast and mother of three has been slammed on Facebook for posting a photo of herself in a workout bra and short shorts showing her very toned figure, alongside her three sons, then aged 3, 2 and eight months, with the caption: "What's Your Excuse?"

While many of the more than 12,000 comments on Maria Kang's photo have been supportive, others attacked her with a range of accusations, including that she was fat-shaming women.

Kang told Yahoo! Shine that her intention was, quote, "to inspire people," explaining, "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."

Kang, a former beauty pageant queen and fitness competitor who's a recovering bulimic, posted an apology which Shine cites her as admitting is really a non-apology.

She wrote:

"I'm sorry you took an image and resonated with it in such a negative way. I won't go into details that I struggled with my genetics, had an eating disorder, work full time owning two businesses, have no nanny, am not naturally skinny and do not work as a personal trainer. What I WILL say is this. What you interpret is not MY fault. It's yours. The first step in owning your life, your body and your destiny is to OWN the thoughts that come out of your own head. I didn't create them. You created them. So if you want to continue 'hating' this image, get used to hating many other things for the rest of your life."

That, of course, brought a slew of new negative responses.