Ironically, This 33-Year-Old Who Exposes 'Perfect' Instagram Models Has More Followers Than Most Of Them (30 Pics)

Fix SADDLEBAGS instantly with this SIMPLE TRICK!

Or not. Or don’t. The trick is easy (it’s posing - hips back, knees rotating in, core tight, shoulders up). But let’s forget that for just a moment.

I want to TALK about SADDLEBAGS.

I learned I had saddlebags when I was 13. Even at my thinnest, this fleshy part of my thighs has never gone away. I can pose it out, but those saddlebags are still there.

For many years, I knew my saddlebags were a BAD THING.

I didn’t question why.

I just KNEW IT.

Only that was DIET CULTURE talking.

It wasn’t me.

And babygirl, IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE YOU.

Because SADDLEBAGS sits right alongside thunder thighs or turkey legs or bat wings in the list of awful words meant to demean a woman’s body.

Just because these words EXIST doesn’t mean we have to GIVE POWER TO THEM.

Not when we LOOK IN THE MIRROR.

Not when we’re caught, relaxed, laughing and unposed, in a photo.

Not when we try on clothes that don’t fit.

Not when our bodies change and fluctuate with the soft shifts of weight.

Not any of these times.

Our bodies are GLORIOUS. They are the homes we have built. We do not EVER have to try to burn them down.

Instead, let’s treat ourselves with kindness. Let’s remember that SO MUCH of the SHAME we feel around our SKIN has been forced upon us by a $72 billion diet industry.

And that we are POWERFUL. Strong. Capable. Smart and intelligent and silly and soft, and SO much more than some stupid sticky word would try to suggest.

So here’s to saddlebags.

But more than that, here’s to shrugging off the baggage diet culture tries to drown us with.

You got this girl. .

Hands up if you can relate!

For real though, my bloating has been all OVER the place lately.

Part of it is my lovely lady time has come (oh hello period bloat! And allll the water retention!). Part of it is because I’m doing a plant-based challenge for the month (aaaand so many veggies in my belly!). And part of it is just, well, me. My gut. My tummy. Parts of me I’m still trying to understand and heal but even as I do, I treat with LOVE and KINDNESS and FORGIVENESS.

Because our bodies are wonderful. Our bellies are strong. Our minds are galaxies. And all of that, all of that is enough to make me feel, oh yes,

Me / also me, because how much more wonderful would social media be if we stopped worrying so darn much about perfection.

Just catching sunsets and sharing giggles

Is giving yourself a WEDGIE while standing in soft SHADOWS the secret to a GREAT BOOTIE PHOTO?

Well, not entirely, but it sure as heck gets you 2/3 the way there. Add in a bit of hip popping and back arching and you’re en route to that perfect influencer BELFIE.

For real though: briefs and bikini bottoms pulled up high on the hips and thighs appears really flattering in a photo. It’s CRAZY UNCOMFORTABLE for obvious reasons, but great for those instasnaps.

And it’s SO COMMON. Keep an eye out and you’ll see most bootie pics shot this way.

So! There you go. Enjoy taking some fierce photos of yourself if you fancy. Or just store this bit of ‘insta VS reality’ knowledge for any moment when you slide into that awful social media comparison game.

As always, remember this platform (and, hey, magazines, videos, the whole professional lot) is highly filtered.

Your bum is great.

No wedgies required. . . .

How to have a beach body: Have a body. Go to the beach. Bam. Around 98 percent of women have cellulite - goodness knows I do. But social media is curated. I've been on this platform for years and only recently have started to feel confident enough to share, well, a bit more of the raw side. So here's just a little reminder today that for every perfected image you scroll past on Instagram, there are dozens that have been rejected. The same goes for magazines, adverts, and even TV. You're beautiful. Now get that body to the beach.

Don’t COMPARE YOURSELF to a stranger on the internet.

I’ve worked in media and magazines for over 10 years. And in publishing, it feels normal to see curated ideals of dream lives, dream bodies.

But social media tells us a different story.

It says every girl is the girl next door.

Every goal is casually achievable.

And suddenly every supermodel on a superyacht becomes the norm.

Part of us knows this ISN’T true.

Part of us forgets.

So today I just wanted to remind you:

Don’t compare yourself to a stranger on social media.

Don’t compare yourself to hundreds of highlight reels.

Not in the way your body is shaped.

Not in the way you handle emotions or challenges.

Not in the raw fragile parts that make you who you are.

Because what we see on here is an echo chamber of perfect angles and hand picked truths.

And humans are far more complex, far more nuanced, far more perfectly imperfect than that.

You got this.

There is STRENGTH in VULNERABILITY.

I wish I would have known this sooner.

This year, I let myself be vulnerable.

Not just with my body, although that’s part of it. Showing the ‘imperfect’ sides. Showing the parts of myself that still feel complicated, wobbly, nuanced. That was vulnerable.

But also taking RISKS is vulnerable.

Opening up to friends, REALLY opening up to friends, that’s vulnerable.

Saying when someone hurts me. Setting my boundaries. Standing up for what I believe in.

All that’s vulnerable.

But what I’m learning is this: Vulnerability is the most powerful thing we can feel, do, embrace.

Vulnerability is the flip side of bravery.

And this year, next year, I’m all about the scary battle of embracing strength.

TW - NEW YOUTUBE - Eating Disorder relapse - My story

There’s so much I want to say.

Most of it I talk through in this video (link in bio): How it’s so common to have disordered thoughts around food; how it’s normal to battle healing; how sometimes we deny we have a problem for days and weeks and years.

How getting better is worth it.

How you’re not alone if you find yourself wobbling in a grey area where body image and mental health and external pressures collide. I relapsed once, four years ago. It happens and it’s horrible and yet. Yet. We are resilient.

How it will be ok.

And yet I’m not quite sure how to say so many things, now more than ever.

Because I’m realizing eating disorders are more complicated than I ever knew.

And that there are entire communities who are left out of the healing, the research, the representation.

Maybe you’re stumbling through these things too.

Maybe you’re that girl.

So for now, let me say this:

If you’re struggling, know that recovery is possible.

If you’ve recovered, remind yourself constantly your why.

And if you’re feeling alone, know that you are not.

Not now.

Not ever.

It will be ok.

It will be ok. . . .

TW - NEW YOUTUBE - Eating Disorder relapse - My story

There’s so much I want to say.

Most of it I talk through in this video (link in bio): How it’s so common to have disordered thoughts around food; how it’s normal to battle healing; how sometimes we deny we have a problem for days and weeks and years.

How getting better is worth it.

How you’re not alone if you find yourself wobbling in a grey area where body image and mental health and external pressures collide. I relapsed once, four years ago. It happens and it’s horrible and yet. Yet. We are resilient.

How it will be ok.

And yet I’m not quite sure how to say so many things, now more than ever.

Because I’m realizing eating disorders are more complicated than I ever knew.

And that there are entire communities who are left out of the healing, the research, the representation.

Maybe you’re stumbling through these things too.

Maybe you’re that girl.

So for now, let me say this:

If you’re struggling, know that recovery is possible.

If you’ve recovered, remind yourself constantly your why.

And if you’re feeling alone, know that you are not.

Not now.

Not ever.

It will be ok.

It will be ok. . . .