Fitness Blogger Shares Honest Photos To Prove 'Perfection' Is Overrated

Fitness blogger, coach on honest photos: “Our bodies aren’t broken”

A fitness blogger and coach is inspiring a ton of people to focus on loving themselves after posting some honest photos of herself online. “If I’m going to show you the posed, put together, professional sides of me, I’m gonna make damn sure you see the not so flattering sides too,” wrote Ashlie Molstad, who is known online as Foodie Girl Fitness.

“Contrary to what society has taught us to think, our worth isn’t measured by how many belly rolls we have, or how many dimples on our booty, or how much jiggle hangs out on our arms,” she went on to say. The 31-year-old self-described “fitness junkie who loves to eat” posted two photos side-by-side that show how the same body can look very different depending on the angle. In the first photo, Molstad is standing up and has her hands behind her head. It’s the type of shot you see fitness bloggers post all the time. The second one shows her sitting down, and her stomach looks less toned and more, for lack of a better word, normal. She looks like anyone else does when sitting down, and that’s the point.

Molstad’s hoping her honest take will inspire others to avoid obsessing over perfection. “Loving ourselves exactly as we are is hard. Because we’ve been told for years that we’re not good enough until we {insert any of the thousands of ideas of perfection that has been fed to us over the years},” Molstad shared in her post that is going viral. The photos have been shared more than 16,000 times. “Our bodies aren’t broken. The message society is trying to tell us {by airbrushing everything, erasing dimples and rolls and fluff} is.”

The lady isn’t wrong. There is a growing demand from American women to see more natural sides of women in advertisements and editorial spreads. Earlier this year women shared photos of their clothing size online to challenge the fashion industry’s body image issues. And 15-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys has embraced a makeup-free face to raise awareness about the pressure put upon women to look a certain way. Despite the calls for self-love, Molstad understands that it’s easier said than done.

“This doesn’t mean I don’t also struggle with embracing this body I was given, but it does mean that I understand working on loving me is the most important job I will ever have,” she explained. “So even though it’s really hard, let’s remember we are worthy and beautiful and special and ALIVE. Go on and love yourself today, because THAT shit is what’s inspiring.” It is inspiring and can be transformational. If we push for more accurate images of people, there will come a time when seeing an average-sized woman (size 16 in America, btw) on TV and in magazines will be normal. A time when plus-sized models are just models.

Plus, as Molstad points out, “the real magic happens when we embrace who we are, at every angle and size.”