For me, Instagram should be about celebrating different bodies, different skill sets and different people. But scrolling through my feed these days I see endless females with the exact same thin body type being celebrated and applauded.
I scrolled through the #fitness hashtag the other day and was disgusted to only see butt selfies and not a single male or female actually exercising or working out. This is why I love it so so much when body positive Instagrammers take hold and show that 99.9% of people will never look like the mannequins on Instagram!
As a fitness professional, I see bodies in every single shape and size trying to improve themselves daily and I think promoting that it is okay to sweat and workout hard no matter your shape or size is one of the best things we can promote!!! After all, looking good is about feeling confident in yourself, not about fitting a stereotype society prescribed for you.
Olivia, xoxo
Our favourite body positive Instagramers are:
1. Chessie King
Chessie King is a presenter and Health & Fitness blogger. Both her blog and Instagram profile aim to spread body positivity while showing an insight into her life as the creator of C.Krets. C. Krets was born from her love of discovering venues such as restaurants, hotels and fitness retreats, making the most of life and giving no time to the haters! Offering both reviews and nuggets of wisdom on how and why you should love yourself, Chessie is definitely one to follow…
2. Bianca Taylor
Bianca Taylor is a fitness coach and body positivity activist based in LA. While she loves a good booty pic that might make you feel a bit insecure about your own, she also loves spreading the message that we are all beautiful and that self-love and prioritising your mental health is the most important thing. Having struggled with her own self-image in the past, she often speaks about her journey of self-love, offering us a real source of inspiration. She’s also a vegan, so her channel contains not only fitness tips but dietary tips also, to maximise your health and happiness.
4. Megan Jayne Crabbe
Bio: “I like talking about body positivity, feminism, and how dogs are better than any humans.” With 1.1 million followers, Megan Jayne Crabbe is a queen when it comes to talking about the issues regarding body positivity and feminism. In actively speaking out against the idealistic, unrealistic and often torturous standards many women hold themselves to, she calls out the harmful social expectations women are all too frequently told to follow by the media. She even has a bestselling book called Body Positive Power, offering advice on “how to stop dieting, make peace with your body and live.”
4. Olivia Horncastle
Last but not least, our very own Olivia Horncastle is an Exeter based personal trainer. Her Instagram and overall ethos as a PT is all about “trying to bring everyone health and happiness”. By addressing her struggles and journey towards body positivity, she offers us another inspirational influencer valuing strength in body and mind over unhealthy weight-loss methods. Not only that, but through her own account, she underlines the importance of using social media platforms to uplift people rather than as a tool to compare our lives and bodies to unrealistic, or excessively edited others. In multiple posts she addresses how life is to be lived, healthy and happy, and how constant obsession and comparison regarding appearance makes you miss out on the more fulfilling aspects of day-to-day life!