No offense, I mean this with the best of intentions, but you do come off as very defensive. The OA was not condemning anyone, the advice was given openly without any tone of admonishment.

Imagine an artist who draws well and writes a post about how he gets annoyed when people talk about how lucky he is to have that talent and how they "can't draw a straight line." Then goes on to explain how much work he went through to develop that ability, and that anyone can improve their drawing ability. Sure the guy has a chip on his shoulder, but who would be offended by that? It would have to be someone who had an even bigger chip on their shoulder.

Now if you're associating this with society projecting unrealistic body image expectations, then I agree that that's very annoying. However it's not fair to bite someone's head off over fitness advice. It's perfectly reasonable for someone to be proud of their achievements. It doesn't automatically make them a smug a-hole anymore than being annoyed by it makes you an oversensitive jerk.

But there are other bigger societal issues at play here.

> Sorry dude, working out 6 times a week means that you're exceptionally into it. I am a compsci and photography "freak", I didn't mean it as a pejorative, I meant it as a clear descriptor of someone who devotes nearly all his time to one specific task.

Okay working out 6 days a week is not "devoting all nearly all your time". The average American watches 4 hours of TV a day, and we don't call everyone TV freaks. It's perfectly reasonable to go the gym for 30-60 mins a week without having your life be devoted to it. Someone who simply works out regularly is not a freak. Go to the gym (especially one with a silhouette of bodybuilder on the sign) and you'll be able to see the freaks first hand.

I agree that the gym is a bit unnatural in that it's a contrived form of exercise, but as human beings we are evolved to get a reasonable amount of exercise. Sure in the short term we are programmed for laziness because it's more efficient, but our bodies aren't really made for the life of leisure we enjoy. Regular people all over work out because it makes them feel better in general. It's not because they are freaks, or gluttons for punishment, or love breaking a sweat.

Is it someone's fault that we live a sedentary lifestyle? Not really, it's just the natural course of progress, but I don't think it's right to jump down someone's throat just because they happen to expend some effort to keep healthy and they want to share. If you don't like it don't read it.

The other side of the coin is nutrition. And in this case I think the food industry and farm subsidies really are to blame. The grain-based diet advocated in the food pyramid is a scam, and people who want to eat healthy are forced to pay more for fresh vegetables and free range/grass-fed meats because of the powerful grain lobby. With the type of food available to us today, it takes real willpower (almost to the point of "freakishness" as you say) to eat what would be considered a very average diet at any point more than 60 years ago.

I think nutrition science is still in the dark ages, and the general advice given is not going to be a good fit for everyone. At best it's a partial picture, and at worst it's explicitly corrupt. I think the only reasonable way to eat healthy is to avoid processed foods as much as possible, and even go for locally and sustainably grown produce to avoid nutrient-depleted genetically-engineered-and-identical monocrops grown using nitrogen-based fertilizer.

I guess it makes me angry that the food industry promotes bogus science in order to increase profits at the expense of all our health, then people turn around and get angry at anyone who advocates a healthy diet simply so they can feel better about themselves. It's like being complicit in our destruction.

Sorry to go off on a rant, but getting some exercise and eating right does not have to be this huge ordeal, and we shouldn't lash out at people who want to do it and talk about it just because we have our own issues or guilt around the subject.