About two months after Singapore bodybuilder @dinokang heavily criticised her in a series of Instagram Stories, fitness YouTuber Chloe Ting has responded with a 17-minute video.

A "malicious campaign"

Ting started by labelling the Instagram Stories as a "malicious campaign" against her.

While she "gets it" that people would want to use her name to get more clicks, Ting said that she can't respect the bodybuilder in this instance.

"Normally, I don't give a shit about these things. But to see him selling it as an 'expose' on Chloe Ting and trying to milk it after two months, trying to make a profit out of it, having other people quote him like it's the truth... That's just not right when it's defamatory."

The Australia-based YouTuber went on to address several points that @dinokang made.

In her video, Ting did not make any mention of his identity, and censored his name from the screenshots.

1. That she perpetuates a "toxic body image" of the ideal female body

Ting posted a few clips of herself saying,

"Muscles are great. They are metabolically more active. I like the look of it. [...] I love muscles and I think you should too. I have said this a million times over but muscle gain is a good thing. [...] I also really love lifting heavyweights."

2. That Ting doesn't do bicep curls because it's not "lady-friendly"

Ting showed several different clips of herself doing bicep curls.

3. That her content causes body dysmoporhia and eating disorders

Ting read out @dinokang's critique of her physique, where he said, "She doesn't exactly have a GREAT figure with," among other things.

However, the bodybuilder did acknowledge that he was being "unfairly critical".

Ting pointed out that @dinokang also demeaned her by calling her a "pretty face in yoga pants."

"I like how he makes these 'facts' like he knows how my body looks like (sic) before my fitness journey," she added.

Ting revealed that she has also chatted with psychologist Ben Buchanan, who specialises in body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

"It looks like you're being trolled a bit," the phycologist said. He concurred with Ting that @dinokang was "body shaming" her.

Buchanan added that when she started, Ting was careful to make sure that her content isn't "triggering" for people, and that it doesn't perpetuate unrealistic standards of beauty.

When asked if her video titles might cause body dysmorphia, Buchanan said that he was "really impressed" by the "kind and compassionate" community that Ting had built.

In addition to community's diversity, Buchanan pointed out that Ting also frequently reminds people not to compare their progress, and to remember to eat.

The psychologist concluded,

"I think the content of the video matters so much more in terms of affecting people's well-being and I gotta say, I think that a lot of people are probably not only looking better, but most importantly, feeling good and feeling connected to everyone else who is on this journey with them."

4. That people in her results videos only made progress because they ate clean, not because of Ting's 10-minute workouts

"No one said that's all they did, I stress about the importance of nutrition all the time," the YouTuber replied.

She showed clips of herself talking about diet and doing meal prep to back up her statement.

The bodybuilder also did not direct people to her workout schedules, which had more exercises beyond 10 minutes a day, Ting said.

5. That Ting's video titles were "fake"

Ting, however, said that @dinokang had targeted her specifically, as he had reportedly asked people to disregard the titles in other videos.

Ting had also discovered that the @dinokang's brother's girlfriend had also done her workouts, and did not have a problem understanding that it was "just a workout title."

The YouTuber took several clips from her followers saying that they were not expecting abs or "miracles" after her fitness challenge.

6. That followers can eat whatever they want and still lose weight/gain muscle with Ting's workouts

Ting said that her having chocolates every day was a "tongue-in-cheek" comment taken out of context by @dinokang.

She said that the bodybuilder was also putting words in her mouth, by claiming that Ting was promoting a mindset where people could eat whatever they wanted and still lose weight with her workouts.

"Tell me exactly where I said to eat chocolates every day and just do my 10-minute workout, no diet needed and you'll lose fat," she hit back.

Ting then brought up a dietician she spoke to, who believed that people needed to stop dichotomising food as good or bad.

Abbey Sharp said that there is "nothing wrong" with enjoying "fun foods" like chocolate regularly, or even daily, as long as one is not crowding out other nutritious food in the diet.

Sharp added that Ting promotes a generally balanced approach to food.

At this point, Ting said that she would address three more points and stop there, based on the legal advice that she received.

7. That her workouts are ridiculous

The move that @dinokang made fun of is a basic pilates move, Ting said.

8. Made claims that Ting does not want people to know how difficult it is to burn calories

Ting felt that her words were being taken out of context, as she simply did not want her followers to compare their calories burned against hers.

9. That Ting's workouts have "zero intensity", for people who want the "easy way out"

To this, Ting said that @dinokang was not only attacking her, but also her followers.

"Easy way out" by bringing someone else down

Finally, Ting accused the bodybuilder of bringing someone else down so that he could rise up.

"If you wanted to grow your Instagram following and sell your PT services, you could have just done it the right way. Grow it organically, just like everyone else. It's hard, but you gotta do it the right way!"

Ting said that a part of @dinokang's "expose" hung on a 2018 video, which was also taken out of context.

"What you know today might have been different two years ago, and might be different two years from now. I’m sure there’s things I’ve said in the past that I don’t believe in anymore. And there’s definitely times where I might stumble or my form wasn’t 100 per cent throughout an entire workout that I film in one take. I'm not ashamed of any of that."

Addressing the issues of clickbait and money

To end off her video, Ting talked about her video titles.

Ting asserted, "I've never guaranteed anyone abs or sold any programmes guaranteeing abs. It's easy for people to make a judgement or conclusion based on my workout title."

She then showed a clip of herself saying, "You can't target fat loss. Don't expect quick results. The whole point of this-two-week shred was to get people to get started on their fitness journey."

Ting also pulled clips from several followers, who said that they had undergone a mental transformation of actually wanting to exercise.

Ting also argued that everyone does clickbait, and questioned why that made her a scammer even though her content and programmes are free.

While a media outlet claimed that earns S$800,000 a month from YouTube, Ting said that it was "nowhere close to that."

The YouTuber added that she barely takes up sponsorships, and could be earning "a lot more money" if she sold her programmes or protein powders.

You can watch Ting's video here:

Top image via Chloe Ting