Teen Mom Maci Bookout says she ‘never’ told son Bentley, 11, to ‘cut weight’ as fans slam her for putting him on a diet
AFTER last night's episode of Teen Mom OG, Maci Bookout took to social media to defend herself as fans slammed her for putting Bentley on a diet.
Bentley, 11, was eating 1,000 calories a day so he could lose weight in order to make his weight class in wrestling.
As aired, defended herself on Twitter after she realized how her scene with Bentley's dieting came across.
She wrote: "In reference to tonight's episode - I have never and will never convince Bentley to 'cut' weight.
"After wrestling his first 2 tournaments in the 75lb class weighing in at 72 - he came to me and said he wanted to wrestle at 70.
"I told him that's fine, but you WILL NOT 'cut' weight."
She continued her explanation on another tweet: "I will lay out a healthy scheduled diet for you, you can eat salads, grilled chicken, veggies, good carbs - instead of pizza, Doritos, and candy bars.
"Through the season, he decided he didn't like it - I told him that's okay!
"You can go back to usual and wrestle at 75 which is what he did."
The mother of three also took the time to retweet and comment on some of her fans' reactions on the social media platform.
When one person questioned whether she had taught him what proper nutrition was, she replied: "That's exactly what I did."
She also agreed with the fan's version of a healthy breakfast and told her that she had included that in his diet.
Maci also agreed with one of her fans who was slamming Ryan Edwards, Bentley's father, for criticizing Maci's parenting.
The Teen Mom OG star wrote: "I appreciate your input. My brother was a collegiate wrestler so I grew up around the sport and have a bit of knowledge in the sport and healthy weight maintenance."
Maci found herself defending her choices after last night's episode of Teen Mom OG aired.
In the episode, decided to take Bentley for a private lesson with a coach so he can be able to reach state championships.
She explained to viewers: "Wrestling has been a great outlet for him and he really wants to make it to the state tournament, so I got him a private lesson.
"He has to stick to a diet to make his weight class if he wants to achieve his goal."
However, things get a little complicated when Bentley asked Maci for food and said he wanted to eat grilled chicken.
Instead, she offered him a salad and told him: "You have lost your mind. He weighs 75 pounds so he's on a very strict, good, healthy calorie diet. Lots of water and workouts to actually cut out weight."
Bentley reminded his coach that he was on a 1,000 calorie diet.
Despite Maci being strict with his meals and Bentley trying to stick to his diet while visiting his dad, Ryan and Mackenzie Edwards questioned how he could keep his strength.
Mackenzie asked him: "How can you be stronger and not weak when you're cutting that much weight?"
While Ryan questioned him: "So why aren't you trying to gain weight? You need to be gaining weight.
"You know what's going to happen? You're going to stunt your growth. And then when it's time to get bigger, you're going to be a late bloomer and it's going to suck for you."
Some fans quickly took to social media to slam Maci for making her son stick to a strict diet, instead of giving him the nutrients he needs to grow.
One fan wrote: "Seems like she's pushing him too hard. Strict dieting at a young age and making it seem like he needs to be perfect can cause a lot of problems down the road."
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Shockingly enough, some fans even sided with Ryan this time.
One fan wrote: "Maci acts like she's the coach. I'm not a big fan of Ryan but this time I agree with him, why would you want your child to lose weight at 11 years old.
"Sports are good for kids but losing weight when you're not even big, it's disgusting that they put pressure on kids like that."
Maci and Ryan have also been exploring how to properly co-parent during this season of Teen Mom OG.