Part of the exchange a woman received from a fitness trainer, who body-shamed her. (Photo: Cassie Young via Facebook) 
 
 A personal trainer who tried to body-shame a woman for declining his services received a humbling dress-down on social media. 
 
 Cassie Young, 31, is a digital director at the nationally syndicated radio show “The Bert Show,” where she regularly shares her past struggles with body acceptance. Last week, after getting engaged to her boyfriend of nine years, Young received a message from a personal trainer (whose identity she doesn’t reveal), offering to help her “shape up” for the big day. When Young politely declined his offer, things got… weird. 
 
 On Thursday, Young posted screenshots of the exchange to her Facebook page. “Congratulations on your engagement,” wrote the man. “Hire me to help you get in shape for your wedding.” 
 
 Young replied, “I am in shape! Thank you so much for the offer, though.” 
 
 You might think the conversation ended there — but wait. 
 
 “I know you want to look your best on your wedding day,” the man pressed. “If you don’t hire me, hire someone. Those pictures last centuries. Your children’s children’s children will still have those pictures.” 
 
 Cassie Young. (Photo: Sarah Witherington/OWN Boudoir) More 
 
 Young wrote in part, “I know it’s probably hard for you to understand this, but it’s taken me a long time to love my body. I’m constantly shamed or reminded that I’m heavy and I should be embarrassed — or people are embarrassed for me — or just straight up rude, calling me ‘disgusting.’ I’ve battled past all that and like myself and how I look.” 
 
 The man countered, “You can accept how you look but you can’t be happy with the way you look. 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.” 
 
 Young replied, “I’m sad for you that your self-worth is wrapped up in your appearance. You clearly place a lot of stock in looks but fail to understand that not everyone wants to be chained to that insecurity.” She also added: “You are perpetuating the problem and I refuse to play that game. I reject your notion of operating on superficiality and looks, and I embrace my inner health goals.” 
 
 Still, the man would not let up. Read the entire exchange here. 
 
 “I saw his messages while lying in bed at 9:30 p.m. and initially I wasn’t offended because he was just offering his services,” Young tells Yahoo Beauty. “Then I started to think about his position of power and any women he may be exploiting by preying on their insecurities.” 
 
 Young would know — after a fifth-grade classmate embarrassed her for wearing size 5 jeans, she spent years counting calories and embarking on yo-yo diets. “I would sit in my closet and cry because I wore sweatpants to work every day for two weeks because no other pair fit,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “But last year I decided to invest in clothes that fit and have modeling photos taken — I’m tired of telling myself I’m not pretty because I have fat rolls.” 
 
 She added, “This guy tried to undo the work I’ve done and plant a seed of doubt in my head during my engagement.” 
 
 Despite the trainer’s comments, Young refuses to publicly name him. “I want this to be a learning opportunity,” she tells Yahoo Beauty, adding that putting him on blast would deter that from happening. “No one should be vilified because they’re ignorant.” 
 
 Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty: 
 
 Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty. ||||| Some people still don't seem to understand that all body types are worthy of love. 
 
 A woman named Cassie Young saw this first hand recently after she was approached on Twitter by a personal trainer who offered to help her lose weight before her wedding day. But when she explained that she was already happy with how she looked, the conversation took an odd turn. 
 
 The unnamed trainer began to shame her for not trying to "look her best" in her wedding photos. Ugh. 
 
 Luckily, his misguided comments did not bring the bride-to-be down. She schooled him, and when she posted the screenshots on Facebook last week, she added an important message: your appearance does not define your self worth. 
 
 Cassie ends the post by stating, "Life is waiting for you. It's too short to be spent worrying about a belly roll. Go be happy and live it to your fullest." 
 
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 After the post went viral, other Facebook users were disgusted by the trainer's tactic of getting a new client and completely supported Cassie's body-positivity in the comments. 
 
 Hell yeah. Further proof there's no such thing as the right or wrong size. ||||| share tweet pin email 
 
 Body-positive blogger Megan Jayne Crabbe, who goes by Bodyposipanda on social media, isn't letting critics get in the way of her confidence. 
 
 The 24-year-old recently posted before and after photos of her from 2014 and now — with a twist. 
 
 "Every day we're inundated with before and after weight loss pictures telling us that the way to be happy is by shrinking our bodies; I wanted to show people that happiness isn't a size," Crabbe told TODAY about what inspired her to post the images. "You don't have to spend your life chasing weight loss to feel beautiful, happy or worthy — you deserve to feel all of those things as you are." 
 
 RELATED: Blogger celebrates 'flaws': 'We have no idea what real bodies look like anymore' 
 
 In the photo's caption, the blogger candidly explained that after years of struggling with an eating disorder, she has finally learned to love herself for who she is. 
 
 And a part of that acceptance meant confronting many of the negative comments that people posted on her last before and after photos. She decided to reply to some of these questions in her recent post. 
 
 "'Wait so you just decided to RUIN your body?' Nah, I just stopped torturing myself every day for not fitting an image I was never supposed to be," wrote Crabbe. 
 
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 In response to another commenter, she wrote: "I could have stayed the same and spiraled back into the eating disorder that almost killed me when I was 15. I could have kept starving myself and obsessively working out for hours every day but it never would have lead me to self love." 
 
 She continued, "No matter how much weight I lost there was always still something to hate. And sure, people don't NEED to gain weight to find their self love, this is just what my body needed to do to match up to my mental freedom. THIS IS MY HAPPY BODY." 
 
 Crabbe, who's been using social media as platform to spread body positivity for the past three years, said the reaction to her post has been mixed. 
 
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 "There's been a lot of love, but also a lot of hate," she said. "Thankfully the love has outweighed the hate, and the hate only reminds me how much work there is still left to do in making people realize that people of all sizes are valuable and deserve respect." 
 
 With each post on her account, the blogger hopes to inspire others on their journey to self-love. 
 
 "None of us exist for the purpose of dropping dress sizes or fitting the narrow image of beauty that's been presented to us as the ultimate goal," she said. "We're more than what our bodies look like." 
 
 RELATED: Fitness star on embracing your ‘flaws’ ||||| What did "they" say to make you hate your body? 
 
 Many women unfortunately have an answer to this question, recalling the weight-focused comments that convinced them their bodies were less-than or undesirable. 
 
 But now, these same women are working to reclaim their bodies from all that stigma and shame — and they're using a simple hashtag to do it. 
 
 On Twitter, #TheySaid is giving women a platform to share the cruel comments they've heard in their lifetimes, populating the powerful hashtag with words friends, family, partners, and peers have used to tell them their bodies aren't good enough. 
 
 #TheySaid also spurred an accompanying hashtag, #SheReplied, to help arm women with ways to respond to negative comments about their bodies and size. 
 
 By sharing the words once used to hurt them, these women are finding community in some of the most painful moments of their lives. 
 
 "Keep eating like that and you're going to be a butterball." My Dad when I was 12. Pls RT and share a body shaming comment. #TheySaid — Sally Bergesen (@oiselle_sally) May 25, 2017 
 
 Sally Bergesen, CEO of sports apparel brand Oiselle, started the hashtag by tweeting her own experience with adolescent body shaming on May 25. 
 
 In the same tweet, Bergesen asked others to share their stories. Since then, women have bravely spoken out about the comments that have stuck with them. 
 
 My family CONSTANTLY asking me "you train so much, how come you're not skinny?" Because sport determines body type, right? >< #theysaid — AdjustedReality (@Quixotique) May 25, 2017 
 
 "If you're chubby all the boys are going to run away." An uncle told me that when I was 11 years of age. #TheySaid — Alyssa Yeo (@AllyAshton) May 31, 2017 
 
 You should wear a girdle. My grandma when I was 5. #TheySaid @oiselle_sally — Keli Hansen (@Seattlekeli) May 27, 2017 
 
 "Looks like you've got child-birth in' hips." I was 12. #TheySaid — Sara (@myshkamou) June 1, 2017 
 
 "Fat women cannot be happy." She was a stranger and I was 16, I wish I would've said 🖕🏽#theysaid — Liz AT (@LizzzzA86) June 1, 2017 
 
 #TheySaid you're getting so fat you won't be able to come back from that... you should only eat as much food as you can fit in one fist. — YC (@DatLatinaChick) May 31, 2017 
 
 "Suck in your stomach, it's getting big." My grandmother when I was 9. #Theysaid https://t.co/FT3L3SQFmJ — Haiz❄️ (@Hailey_Mekus) May 30, 2017 
 
 "Boys would be all over you if you lost about 20 pounds" -my grandmother. I was 12. #theysaid — Amanda |-/ (@mandarae143) June 1, 2017 
 
 After seeing the harrowing responses from these bold women, Bergesen wanted to encourage others to take action, and assert the value of their bodies to their shamers. 
 
 So she started a complementary hashtag called #SheReplied, arming women with simple comebacks when their bodies are attacked. 
 
 What replies can we arm our girls with? I'll start: "Actually, all bodies are different and I'm just right for me." #TheySaid — Sally Bergesen (@oiselle_sally) May 25, 2017 
 
 "I think you mean well, but those types of comments are hurtful." #TheySaid #SheReplied — Sally Bergesen (@oiselle_sally) May 25, 2017 
 
 "If you lost 20 pounds and got contacts, you'd look like a model." said the ex-boyfriend. #theysaid Can't touch this #SheReplied — Cindy Majane (@CindyMajane) June 1, 2017 
 
 "My sisters & my worth is not determined upon our weight." What I should have said. #TheySaid #SheReplied — Kseay (@upthestairs87) May 31, 2017 
 
 "All bodies are amazing! Too bad your attitude isn't!" #theysaid #shereplied — Alex McGillivray (@audaciouslyalex) May 26, 2017 
 
 While Bergesen's personal experiences with body shaming are valid, many women finding community in the hashtag were quick to point out that her apparel company only carries up to size 12. She promised to do better, and create more options with plus-size women in mind by 2018. 
 
 The takeaways from #TheySaid, smartly put by Twitter user Sarah Overpeck, are simple yet essential:
– Cassie Young is used to strangers reaching out to her on social media. The 31-year-old is a digital director at the nationally syndicated radio program The Bert Show in Chicago, and she's got more than 14,000 followers on Twitter alone. But when a personal trainer offered to whip her into shape after she announced her engagement to her boyfriend of nearly a decade, he became so persistent—and their chat so emotional—that she posted their exchange on Facebook, where it went viral. "If you think of life as a 'game' with being skinny as how you 'win,' this guy is offering to play by the rules and get you there," she writes. "I'm telling you the game is BOGUS. You don't need the game. I reject the game. I REFUSE TO PLAY." Young tells Yahoo that, since she was first teased about her size in 5th grade, it's taken years and many yo-yo diets to love the body she has. But the trainer—whom she won't name, saying that "no one should be vilified because they're ignorant"—told her that if she didn't hire him she should hire someone else because "those pictures last centuries" and her children's children would see what she looks like, per Mashable. "This guy tried to undo the work I’ve done and plant a seed of doubt in my head during my engagement," she says. She replied to him, "I'll look my best because I'll be so happy I get to marry the man I love." She says the positive comments she's received from readers mean a lot, and that life is "too short to be spent worrying about a belly roll." (People recently tweeted memories of the first time they were body-shamed.)