Scrolling through Instagram is kind of like the 2017 version of flipping through a fashion magazine. You’ve got the food pictures, the travel pictures, the interior design pictures, the fashion and makeup pictures, the pictures of perfect bodies; all of them beautiful, all of them edited, and all of them end up making you feel sort of inadequate.
When it comes to body image, this has the potential to do some serious damage. It sets us up to compare ourselves to other people. It puts destructive thoughts into our minds: They look better than me. Why don’t I look like that? I should be eating that food. I should be doing more exercise. But we only get half of the story on Instagram. We don’t see the editing processes, the way that the lighting is orchestrated for this photo and the angle is set up for that photo, or the chocolate bar that this person ate right after finishing the salad that they posted a picture of online. We only see what people want us to see, but it’s too easy to forget this and to hold ourselves to this unattainable standard of “perfection”.
But don’t let the sea of thigh gaps and flat stomachs and really, really shiny hair get you down. Here are just a few Instagram accounts that celebrate self love, body positivity, and that push back against the diet and exercise industry. Check them out, give them a follow; make your Instagram feed a healthier, happier, and more positive space!
Megan Jayne Crabbe, @bodyposipanda
Megan’s Instagram literally radiates positivity and self love; she’s a self proclaimed fan of “belly roll love, exposing diet industry lies, and wearing pastels”, and her account celebrates diversity, showing us the kinds of bodies that the mainstream media doesn’t. She’s a recovered anorexic, and she doesn’t shy away from ripping into the danger of the diet industry.
What a lovely lady. And she has really cool hair.
Jessamyn Stanley, @mynameisjessamyn
Jessamyn Stanley is a queer, body positive yoga teacher based in North Carolina, and her Instagram account boldly rips apart the image of “yoga” that the diet and exercise industry loves to promote; namely, a skinny, white woman. She fiercely shows us that exercise is for everyone; you don’t need to be ashamed of your body, or think that, just because you’re a certain size or shape, you’re not allowed to occupy certain spaces or do certain things. You have as much right to be freaking amazing at yoga as everyone else does.
Mama Cax, @mamacaxx
“Mama Cax”, as she likes to be called, is a 25 year old blogger from Brooklyn with a prosthetic leg, and her body positivity message fiercely advocates diversity and increasing the amount of types of bodies that we see in the media. Referring to herself as a “Cyborg Chick”, she’s unashamedly and unapologetically confident, despite bodies like hers being marginalised and erased.
Also, her Instagram account is just straight up beautiful. No lie.
Gina, @nourishandeat
Gina is an eating disorder survivor, and – especially if you have food related anxieties or disorders – her account is well worth a follow. She unpacks the lies of the diet industry, posts photos of her belly rolls and her cellulite, and encourages everyone to #embracethesquish, but she also tells her followers that it’s ok to fall down on the journey to self love and body positivity. Her Instagram account shows that self love is sometimes really bloody hard, but you’ve got to keep pushing through.
Lottie L’amour, @lottielamour
Lottie L’amour is a plus sized blogger, and she is unapolegetically confident. In her Instagram, she wears bold patterns and crop tops and lingerie, wearing everything that plus sized women are told they can’t wear, and demonstrating that fashion has absolutely no relation to size. Whatsoever.
StyleLikeU, @stylelikeu
Odds are, you’ve probably seen a Style Like U “What’s Underneath?” video or two floating around on the internet somewhere, but if you haven’t, it’s an initiative led by a mother/daughter team to film people essentially stripping down emotionally, while they strip down physically. The whole docu-series is amazing, and their Instagram account embodies the same message as their videos, celebrating body diversity and self love, and presenting style as something you generate from within.
Barbie Ferreira, @barbienox
Barbie Ferreira is a 20 year old plus-sized model, and she’s been famously outspoken about both the modelling industry and the importance of self love and body positivity. She’s fearless and bold, she literally shies away from nothing, and her Instagram account definitely reflects it, but she never presents her body as anything but perfect. She doesn’t cover up or hide her body, or “dress for her size” – she wears precisely what she wants to wear, and she has no time for anyone who has a problem with that. What a cool human.