If you’re unfamiliar with fitness influencer and blogger Cassey Ho, then just know this: Ho is all about body positivity. Her approach to fitness is also fairly contagious. Her platform isn’t about following the hottest new workout, it’s about finding what works for you and discarding what doesn’t.
However, even Ho has had her fair share of body issues in the past. In a heartfelt #ThrowbackThursday post on Instagram, Ho — the woman behind Blogilates on YouTube — got real about a vulnerable moment from her past.
“Never had I ever thought of altering my body until I saw the stark difference between the girls who won and the girls who lost,” the caption began. “Every girl that I met that day was uniquely beautiful, but what I noticed was that the girls who placed Top 5 in my contest all had breast implants. I on the other hand, placed near the bottom 5.”
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The lengthy caption appears under an old photo of Ho, alongside a few fellow competitors in a bodybuilding competition. You can’t help but notice Ho’s chest size which is much smaller than the women in the photo. She continued:
“Whether or not this was the case, it led me to believe that if I wanted to be a winner, I'd need to get breast implants too. But I see now that I set myself up for this mental state of weakness. When you put yourself up against other women in a physical bodybuilding competition, your entire worth is how you LOOK. Not who you are. Not your GPA. Not your talent. Not how nice you are. It's literally how low your body fat % is and whether or not the ratio of your waist to your boobs and your butt is better or worse than the girl next to you.”
Ho then explained why she decided not to go under the knife; her desire to get breast implants wasn’t for her, it was for a panel of judges. While the women to her right in the photo all possibly received breast implants for very personal reasons, Ho realized her justification was more about outside validation than who she truly was on the inside.
Check out the rest of the message below.