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body confidence

Bella Thorne is known for having a seriously toned physique, but the actress has revealed that she has her own insecurities when it comes to her body. 

The 19-year-old stripped down for a nude shoot in GQ, and took to Instagram to share the image, along with a few words about how she feels about her body. 

'I specifically asked for no re touching on this photo, and lemme tell you I have insecurities, about pretty much everything.' (sic)

 

A post shared by BELLA (@bellathorne) on

'That's natural & that's human. You might look at this photo and think oh shush Bella, but just know every time someone looks in the mirror they simply don't see what everyone else sees.'

'Know that it's completely normal to feel insecure and it's accepted. Honestly I wish everyone talked more about their insecurities so more people in the world could know they aren't alone,' she said. 

'That it's ok. As a public persona you know naturally that every time you shoot with a magazine there is always small retouching.'

 

A post shared by BELLA (@bellathorne) on

'Cuz yeah if they show my acne scars or a wrinkle in my forehead or my teeth aren't perfectly white, people will look at the photo and say no she's not perfect and usually most people don't want the public trashing and I get it.'

'But f*** it I'm here to tell you that's right I'm not F****** PERFECT. IM A HUMAN BEING AND IM REAL. So hip hop your asses over the fence and GET OVER IT,' she finished. 

Hear, hear, Bella!

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Absolutely no one likes to hear people say negative things about their body, and those comments can hurt even more when they come from someone you care about.

Afterall, our friends are supposed to lift us up when we're feeling down – not the other way around.

But it looks like this guy never got the memo.

After receiving an invite to a party from one of her male friends, Imogen Ker could never have imagined the lasting effect that night would have.

The 24-year-old model was left absolutely gobsmacked when her so-called friend introduced her to another man.

"He was telling this stranger how wonderful and amazing I was, and then out of the blue said, 'Imogen would be perfect if it wasn't for her body,'" she told Shape.

Em, excuse me?

As you can imagine, Imogen was left feeling embarassed and vulnerable.

"I felt personally attacked in front of a stranger by someone who was supposed to be my friend,” she recalled.

And while she initially tried to brush it off, the hurtful words stuck with Imogen until she finally decided to make her feelings known.

"It was all I could think about, so I finally decided to text him and get what I was feeling off my chest."

While Imogen did manage to get the apology she deserved, he blamed his behaviour on being drunk (which, to be honest, doesn't explain why he was such a d*ck).

Having struggled with body-image for most of her life, Imogen hopes her story will inpire other young women to stand up for themselves when faced with similar situations:

 "I know that the first reaction for some is to shove it down because of shame. That was my first instinct—to let it go—but I couldn't. That's why we must stand up for ourselves…because we can't rely on the hope that someone else might do it for us."

Preach!

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Despite a rise in bloggers and influences speaking out against unrealistic beauty standards and 'perfect' Instagram shots, there are still a small minority of people who feel the need to put others down.

Sure, it would be great if all this negativity never existed in the first place, but isn't it great when a foolish attempt at body-shaming backfires completely?

Well, that's exactly what happened to Twitter user, Leyton Mokgerepi.

Earlier this week, plus-size blogger, Lesego Legobane, was stunned to discovered that her photo had been used in a meme posted by Leyton.

The image was placed beside a photo of a slender woman wearing a barely-there swimsuit, with the caption: “Girls that I like vs girls that like me.”

While these type of comparison memes are generally intended to be light-hearted and funny, Leyton's attempt was quite the opposite.

But of course, Lesego had the perfect response, simply replying: “I don't like you.”

Her reply has since racked up over 200,000 retweets and close to 700,000 likes.

Leyton later tried to backtrack by tweeting the same image along with the caption “Girlfriend goals” – but no one was buying it.

Bravo Lesego, bravo!

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Meet Jessi Kneeland – the body image coach who is on a self-described mission “to help women learn how to accept and embrace their bodies (and their authentic selves).”

Her Instagram is packed with advice and encouraging words as well as hundreds of empowering photos and to date, has garnered over 17,000 followers. 

 

A post shared by Jessi Kneeland (@jessikneeland) on

However, it seems that no matter how confident you may be about your body, the trolls will always have something to say.

Last week, Jessi shared two photos in which she proudly displayed the celluite (or “fancy fat” as she likes to call it) on her upper legs.

She challenged her followers to look beyond what society had taught them, noting that “there is absolutely nothing objectively true about statements like 'cellulite is ugly' or 'perfectly smooth and toned is more attractive.' Those are just examples of a social reality we pass along to each other…”

 

Oh hey there, have you met my fancy fat? It's these pretty dimples along the back of my legs and butt. Some people think fancy fat is "bad," and will try to convince you to get rid of yours, but we know better. Fancy fat is just a natural, healthy, built-in decoration. (Or at least that's how I choose to see it.) # Note: There is absolutely nothing objectively true about statements like "cellulite is ugly" or "perfectly smooth and toned is more attractive." Those are just examples of a social reality we pass along to each other so often, that our brains start to believe they must be true, they're "natural," or they're "just the way things are." # But they're not. We can change the way we see things by interrupting those old thoughts, challenging and examining them, noticing how they affect us, changing what we expose ourselves to, and finding new beliefs that affect us in a more positive way. # Which exactly what I've done by re-casting my so-called embarrassing cellulite in the role of beloved Fancy Fat. # PS my fancy fat is more visible in some lighting or poses, and less visible in others. These 2 photos were taken when I happened to notice it popping recently in the mirror at my gym. 

A post shared by Jessi Kneeland (@jessikneeland) on

For reasons unknown, one male follower somehow took offence to this post (??) and took to the comment section to make his feelings known.

He wrote: “Spin it anyway u want, having unhealthy body fat like that is not natural, it's because u eat or use to eat shitty food and ur body has stored it! Stop eating sh*t food and burn more calories that u put in ur face and it will go away.”

Now, Jessi could have simply deleted the comment or blocked the user, but instead she decided to call him out by posting his words in a completely seperate instagram post – alongside a photo of her looking hot AF her a bra and underwear might we add.

She wrote: “LOLOLOLOL this comment was left by a hater, on the cellulite photo I posted yesterday. This photo was taken this morning. Sorry dude, I didn't realize I have cellulite because I'm just TOO FAT!!”

“Don't worry though. Me and my 'unnatural, unhealthy body fat' are just gonna be over here helping women understand that there is NOTHING wrong with cellulite (or anything else about their bodies!) and that trolls like you are ignorant and uneducated. Also I'll keep spinning my body as 'none of your damn business.' Because, yeah. That. Lolllll #boybye.”

Bravo Jessi. Handled like true pro!

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We're going to take a wild guess here and say that your last Instagram seflie didn't happen in one take.

Of course it didn't.

The lighting, angle, pose and filter all had to be just right so that everyone would see the best version of you.

See, we rarely tend to focus on the positive features about ourselves, and instead become engulfed by our so-called flaws.

It doesn't matter how beautiful your friends think you look au naturale, you still think you look like the bride of Frankenstein after a few too many.

And that's exactly the kind of negative behaviour one Instagrammer is trying to stop.

Louise Aubrey, a student at SciencesPo Paris and UC Berkeley, recently uploaded a side-by-side-comparison, illustrating how she sees herself versus how others see her.

 

 I am guilty. I am here to always be completely honest, because I feel social medias need more of it. | As much as I preach self love and truly made some progress accepting myself, there is something I really struggle with : pictures  Whenever I see a picture of me, the first things which catches my eyes are my FLAWS. I always see what is wrong. "Too close". "My nose appears too big." "My legs look too white". "I look terrible" This is usually what follows when someone show me a picture they took of me  YET, I really do not look at people's flaws first when I look at a picture of someone else ! On the contrary, I tend to focus on their assets So why not do the same with yourself ? We really need to learn not to be so harsh on ourselves. It is not healthy. I am going to work on it, and I hope you will too.  _____________________________________ Je plaide coupable. Vous savez que l'honnêteté est une valeur que je chérie; et je trouve que ca manque sur les réseaux sociaux. | Malgré que je prêche l'acceptance et l'amour de soi et que j'ai fait de réels progrès sur le sujet, il y a quelque chose avec lequel j'ai toujours beaucoup de mal : les photos  A chaque fois que je vois une photo de moi, tout ce que je vois en premier sont mes défauts. Je vois toujours ce qui ne va PAS. "Trop proche" "Mon nez paraît trop gros" "J'ai l'air trop blanche" "Supprime" : ce sont généralement mes premières réactions après avoir vu une photo de moi  Pourtant, ce n'est pas du tout comme ça que je réagis quand je vois une photo de quelqu'un d'autre ! Au contraire, j'ai plutôt tendance à voir leurs atouts Alors pourquoi je l'applique-t-on pas à nous-même ? On doit vraiment apprendre à ne pas être aussi dur envers soi-même. Ce n'est pas sain. Je vais travailler dessus, et j'espère que vous aussi. 

A post shared by Louise| PARIS |Thinker & Maker (@mybetter_self) on

She makes the point that while she tends to focus on her 'big nose', 'back fat' and 'cellulite', others focus on her 'big smile', 'long legs' and 'strong butt'.

The blogger urged her followers to indulge in a little self-love and treat themselves as other would.

“We really need to learn not to be so harsh on ourselves. It is not healthy. I am going to work on it, and I hope you will too.”

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Louise said: “I created this post because I feel social media platforms are not quite what they could be and should be – i.e a tool to promote empowerment.”

“Self-criticism comes from several causes. The society we’ve evolved in overemphasises our physical appearances. The influence of role models, the use of photo editing; it puts a great pressure on our shoulders and nourishes the feeling of not being worthy enough.”

This is a lesson would could all benefit from.

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Have you ever gone shopping and found that despite your body not changing dramatically over the space of the day, your size is varying from store to store?

There has been a lot of debate in the body positivity community about clothing sizes, which anyone who has been clothes shopping on the high street can see is inconsistent. 

As someone who is a size 12, I've found that in some stores I usually slot into a size medium, while in others I can't squeeze my bum into the XL.

And then magically in a third store a size 10 dress zips up comfortably. I mean really, what's that all about? 

Body confidence coach Michelle Elman has taken to Instagram to prove that sometimes, the size on the label really doesn't mean a damn thing, in the hopes of helping women realise that that a numeric tag really isn't something we should be paying too much notice to at all.

'I found a dress in my cupboard the other day that I had since I was in sixth form. The dress is a size 14. I bought it 5 years ago when I was a size 12. Now, I'm a size 20. And yet, I still fit it,' she captioned the powerful post.

'Which just proves that NUMBERS DON'T MEAN ANYTHING. So are you really going to let a change a dress size dictate your day? Are you really going to let an increase in a number affect your mood?'

 

A post shared by Michelle Elman (@scarrednotscared) on

'Same dress. Still comfortable. Still beautiful. (In fact, I think I look better and happier now!) A higher dress size doesn't mean: – you are less beautiful – you are less worthy – you are less lovable – you are a worse human – you are a bad person – you are a different person AND it doesn't even mean you have a bigger body,' she continued.

'You could go up a dress size by simply changing stores… (or countries). You can change dress sizes because of the time of the day or simply due to whether you are on your period or not.'

'If you look at your cupboard and you find it harder and harder to find something to wear because of a change in clothing size, I have a great solution for you… throw out all clothes that don't fit.'

 

A post shared by Michelle Elman (@scarrednotscared) on

'Looking at your wardrobe shouldn't be something that makes you feel insecure and sad so make sure everything in your wardrobe fits!'

'Numbers don't matter. Not the number on the back of your jeans, on the scale or even the number in your bank account. You are not a number.'

So if you don't fit into the size you feel is most reflective of your body, never fear. Think of your 'size' as more of guideline than a hard rule, because beating yourself up over something so inconsistent truly isn't worth it. 

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Is the word 'fat' offensive?

Technically, no. But the meaning we, as a society, have attached to that little three letter word has made it synonymous with shame and self-hatred.

Bethany Rutter, fashion blogger and writer for Red Online, has spoken out about the issue. In an article posted on the website, Bethany poses the question ‘’why would you be offended when someone considers you plus size?’’

She argues that phrases like ‘curvy’ or ‘plus-sized’ have become the ‘socially-accepted euphemism of choice’ when describing fat bodies and is rejecting the idea that these terms should be seen as polite or non-offensive.

She wrote, ‘’Describing myself as ‘fat’ is not an act of self-hatred, but an act of self-love. It took a long time for me to own it, but I got there, and remain there with defiance and aplomb.’’

Bethany admits that she never hated being fat, in fact she always liked the way she looked, but other people were not convinced that she could actually feel confident about her body.

‘’The problem was everyone else. It was films, magazines, books, my parents, PE lessons at school that made me wonder if I had got it all wrong.’’

It took a while, but Bethany was eventually able to take back control of the word that so many people had used in attempt to hurt or shame her and now uses the word with pride when talking about her body.

‘’I say it with respect and a refusal to participate in a hierarchy where thinness is aspirational, and fat is shameful.’’

‘’I say it to describe a body, to celebrate a body for what it is, not to wound it or treat it with shame.’’

Bethany signed off by asking readers to drop the politeness and simply call her body what it is, fat.

She’s okay with it and you should be too. 

Photo credit: archedeyebrow.com

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Demi Lovato has been busy spreading messages of self-love and body-confidence across social media this week. 

The singer developed bulimia at a young age and has been incredibly open and honest about her journey to recovery ever since.

Demi often stresses the importance of self-care and encourages her fans to love themselves for who they are.

She has come a long way, and her latest posts prove it. 

 

I don't have a thigh gap and I'm still beautiful the way I am. #recovery #selflove #EVERYbodyisbeautiful

A post shared by Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) on

For World Health Day, the star took to instagram with this message for her followers:

"Every day you have the chance to turn it all around. Take care of your body and mind, and it will take care of you back."

Earlier in the week, Demi posted a series of tweets in which she spoke openly about her eating disorder and reminded us all that we are so much more than our clothes size.

The star's words of wisdom are something we could all take on board.

Cut yourself some slack and learn to accept and love the things you can't change – just like Demi has. 

Oh, and while we have you; don't forget to have your say in the inaugural SHEmazing Awards this May! It's time to vote, and you can do it right here!

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Last week, we all watched the annual Victoria Secret fashion show, and low key cried because the models are all actual ANGELS. 

Anyway, while we cannot deny that the Victoria Secret models are beautiful, they are all very much the same (in terms of physique). 

And while watching the show is meant to empower women, it can be sort of depressing watching Bella Hadid strut her stuff (someone pass the pizza…)

Celebrating women of all shapes and sizes, the wonderful humans at Buzzfeed decided to re-create their very own Victoria Secret fashion show, using a diverse line-up of models. 

The message behind Buzzfeed's show was for women to be confident in their own body, no matter your size. 

One of the beauties that walked the Buzzfeed runway was plus size model Tess Holiday, who has previously spoken out against Victoria Secret for “perpetuating the image… that you have to look like a certain way to feel beautiful and be sexy.”

The video, which was uploaded to Youtube last week, has already been viewed 1.9 million times.

SLAY ALL DAY!

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Vicky Pattison has responded to claims which suggest she heavily edits her social media posts to make herself appear slimmer than she really is.

The former Geordie Shore star faced criticism this week after The Mirror published a series of unflattering photos of her smoking on an Australian beach in which she appears far less toned than she does in images on her Instagram account which were taken on the same day.

Speaking to The Sun, the 29-year-old television personality revealed that a newfound sense of body security is all that prevented her from being “floored” by the allegations.

“Bodyshaming makes me sick,” she said.  “It’s because I’m so secure and focused on more important things right now, that this latest critique of my body hasn’t floored me entirely like they normally do.”

“When are people going to get tired of making women feel bad for the way they look?” asked Vicky.

“I am appalled that people would criticise another woman, body shame her and attempt to shatter her confidence based solely on a bad camera angle or an unflattering picture.”

 

He's everything…  @johnnoblejn

A photo posted by Vicky Pattison (@vickypattison) on

The fiery Newcastle native went on to question why society feels it is more important to “shame” women for their appearances than it is to celebrate their ambitions, positive attitudes and career achievements.

“Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and I’m healthy, happy and enjoying my life,” she stated.  “I genuinely believe in inner beauty and that we rise by lifting and supporting others.”

 

Missing The Winter Attire Back Home My VIP Ribbed Mini £13.99 & Tailored Couture Jacket £45 Both Restocked At @HoneyzUK

A photo posted by Vicky Pattison (@vickypattison) on

 

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She’s remained defiant against bodyshamers, but it seems Chanelle Hayes may be feeling reminiscent of her slimmer days.

Having recently been snapped wearing a small black bikini while holidaying in Spain, the former Big Brother star has taken to Instagram to share two throwback beach pictures.

The first photo was taken while she was pregnant with her now six-year-old son, Blakely, and the second – which was posted today – came from a calendar shoot she did in 2014.

 

#pregnantbelly #throwbackthursday

A photo posted by Chanelle Hayes (@chanellehayes) on

While the 28-year-old television personality’s weight has fluctuated drastically over the years, she recently told the Mail Online that her critics should “eat a croissant and get over it”.

And it seems Chanelle’s fans are supportive of her confidence as her latest upload features comments which suggest she looks as good at size 16 as she did at size 8.

 

#throwback to #2014 calendar shoot

A photo posted by Chanelle Hayes (@chanellehayes) on

One user wrote: “You were gorgeous then and you are equally gorgeous now.  I think you are a good role model.”

While another fan said: “You look so much healthier now then back then (sic).”

 

Love my boys so much

A photo posted by Chanelle Hayes (@chanellehayes) on

We hope Chanelle feels happy in herself no matter what size she wears.

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Have you heard of #ThighReading yet?

This summer alone there have been almost countless body-positive hashtags and trends floating about on social media. From clown contouring to the semicolon project people have been doing their best to spread the message about positive body image.

#ThighReading has found people of all ages and body types tweeting pictures of their thighs to celebrate their imperfections.

It started with Twitter user @princess_labia who first used the hashtag earlier this month. She spoke with Elite Daily about the trend and explained the meaning behind it.

“Looking at my thighs and feeling the grooves of my stretch marks… the thought that they looked like lifelines, like a palm reading, just came to me.”

She went on to say that while she frequently tweets about her body’s ‘imperfections’ she didn’t expect her followers to respond as much as they did.

“There are so many faces and body types and features that girls never get to see reflected back at them. Girls have tweeted back at me that they had no idea so many women have stretch marks, and that’s so sad, right?”

The actor, writer and student who is based in NYC said that she finds it distressing that something as “normal” as stretch marks are something “we’ve been taught to be ashamed of”.

Soon her 10,000 followers were getting behind the trend and it has been steadily gaining recognition across social media. She said that: When I think I spend too much energy focused on body positivity and self celebration, I remind myself that suicide is the number one killer of teenage girls worldwide.

She said that believes #ThighReading has helped both her and her followers gain a new perspective on body positivity. 

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