Last year, Tess Holliday became the largest plus-size model to land a major modeling contract. The size-22 beauty signed to England’s MiLK Model Management back in January 2015, inspiring millions of people to appreciate their bodies without judgment or shame.
But more than a year later, Holliday is still facing harsh critics who chastise her for leading an unhealthy lifestyle and, now that she is six months pregnant, endangering her unborn baby. Most recently, Australian fitness blogger, Ashy Bines, took to Instagram with a side-by-side photo of Holliday and an extremely thin runway model.
What did Holliday think of the post? “She basically said I was doing an injustice to my [unborn] child by being fat and pregnant and unhealthy,” she told Us Magazine.
Holliday responded with an Instagram post of her own: a black and white shot of her stretching after an intense workout with personal trainer, Elvon Mack. She revealed that Mack is by far her favorite trainer because he has never shamed her or told her to lose weight.
Once again, Holliday shows us that it’s okay to love yourself just as you are! Staying active and working out is not always about losing weight. “It’s about what makes ME happy!” she writes on Instagram. And that’s a message we can get behind!