This Instagrammer Opened Up About Loving Her "Soft Belly & Dimpled Thighs"

#IHAVEEMBRACED THIS BODY. This soft tummy, these dimpled thighs, these jiggling arms, this bare face. All the parts I never thought I could. Because I realised couldn't spend any more of my life seeing my body as the enemy, instead of my home. ? · A few months ago I saw the body positive documentary Embrace by Taryn Brumfitt of @bodyimagemovement and I fucking loved it. I mean, I was crying within the first 15 minutes, but I still loved it ? who else has seen it? I wanted to take my own #ihaveembraced picture to keep spreading the Embrace love - this isn't a sponsored or paid post or anything like that, I just think it's important to support bopo projects and this film really hit me in the feels! "Darling girl, don't waste a single day of your life being at war with your body... Just embrace it." ????? P.s. I totally cheated and added the writing on this after because the one I wrote was a mess, no shame in my Paint game ?

A post shared by Megan Jayne Crabbe ? (@bodyposipanda) on Apr 4, 2017 at 12:46pm PDT

I had one of those close your door and cry for a minute moments at work today. # So when I took the time to read the comments on my last post I felt so grateful. It really does help to feel like we're not alone in this crazy world trying to figure out things like our dreams, our goals, our bodies, our selves. And although I really appreciate the ab love (especially because I was scared af to post the photo) ? it also made me realize I'd been careful to be honest but still show a version of my body that I liked. So I thought since today was tough and tonight is a night for some extra self love and puppy snuggles I'd share a photo where those "abs" are just rolls and my biceps look big and a little dimply, and you can see my acne scars pretty clearly, but where I'm also very very gratefully happy. It's also pretty blurry but that's what you get when you're trying to not pose with a dog. # Days don't go as planned, no one has a body like the ones we see in magazines (not even the models!). But guess what? In between the tough moments and the "imperfections" there's a helluva a lot of good anyway. ??

A post shared by Elizabeth Marie (@contentedlyimperfect) on Apr 5, 2017 at 6:51pm PDT

#ihaveembraced the grey before I'm the big 40! @bodyimagemvmt @tarynbrumfitt @whitehothair pic.twitter.com/L2wM73Ef46

— Michelle Langrishe (@redrushbury) March 18, 2017

Look at our thigh gap! #ihaveembraced pic.twitter.com/ZIOdMqGObl

— IanManning (@IanGManning) March 8, 2017

This less-clothed-than-I-am-usually-comfortable-posting-selfie comes with an equally uncomfortable question: when did chubby become a bad word? ????????? I would describe my body as a little chubby right now. I would say I've been that way the majority of my life. I've always been thin enough to have a lot of privileges and I recognize that, but I think a little chubby is an apt description of my body. I cannot remember a doctor's appointment in the last two decades when my weight wasn't at least mentioned. I can't remember ever having hard edges or slim limbs. I can't remember a time when my thighs and belly weren't a little soft and a little jiggly. And as I am trying to love and appreciate this body that I often call chubby I always remember the times people corrected me when I said that. Friends would say no no no you're curvy or you're thick. Family would say no you're athletic. Some people would change the subject all together and say you're beautiful! I know these words come from kind places. They're the words of people who care about me, trying to tell me that I'm not chubby I'm something better, but what they're also saying is that chubby is bad. And I don't want to accept that anymore. I don't feel curvy or thick or athletic. I don't think I look like those words on a daily basis. I think those words have connotations of sex appeal and fitness that might make appearances in my life but aren't the main stars. I even started to use the word fluffy as a replacement but I don't feel fluffy, I'm not a pillow stuffed with feathers, I'm not clouds. I'm solid and soft and I think my body is a little chubby. And I want to say that and feel good about it. I mean it's strange. A chubby puppy? Great! A chubby bunny? Adorable! But a chubby human? Oh no no no that couldn't be good let's say something else. Well. I don't want to anymore. I want to call my hips and thighs and soft parts chubby and think "cuddly", not that chubby means something is wrong. # I guess, in short: the words you say matter, the way you listen matters more. And just like my chubby body, all of your bodies are good just the way they are.

A post shared by Elizabeth Marie (@contentedlyimperfect) on Apr 5, 2017 at 5:48am PDT