For anyone who tries hard in the gym, trains all the time, does their best to eat well but somehow always misses out on the abs shot – this is for you.
While exercise should be about getting your body into a fitter, healthier state, it can be easy to get swept up in the obsession with abs, taut tums and Instagram envy that floods our Facebook feeds on a daily basis.
So when Planking for Pizza, AKA Jess, decided to show her version of a transformation pic, she posted it with a pretty important message to those who get easily disheartened.
Explaining how the shot was taken just 30 seconds apart, Jess writes:
‘On the left my posture is poor, I’m pushing my belly out as far as possible, I adjusted my bottoms to show my… love handles… On the right I’m standing straight and comfortably. I’m lightly flexing and I’ve adjusted my bottoms to hide my love handles… Not everything we see meets the eye here on social media. You can show [your] best angles and hide your flaws but at the end of the day what we chose to showcase is a reflection of ourselves.
‘If you force your progress you know who you are cheating?! You… Yes I like to show my best most of the time but I’ve also realised by not showing my worst that it only harms myself… I’m slowly learning to be gentle and kind but it starts with being truthful to myself and knowing and understanding my imperfections and realising that, although they exist, they don’t define me. I am not a before picture. I am not an after picture. I am not fat nor am I perfect. I’m flawed. I’m scarred. I’m insecure.’
Following a warm response, Jess thanked followers for their response, writing:
‘I don’t want my page to be just about my best. I don’t mind showing my worst because being relatable is comforting to me.’
A fitness fan who has pizza factored into her workout?
That sounds like our kinda girl.
