Fitness Blogger Lets Her Belly Rolls Show, to the Delight of Fans

When you’re scrolling through your Instagram feed, the fitness bloggers you follow for a dose of motivation can often feel more discouraging. With perfect six-packs, cellulite-free skin, and zero bloat all day, these superhumans convince us that if we just ate a little “cleaner” or exercised a little bit more, we too would be immune to the insults of poor lighting, ill-fitting clothes, and bad angles.

But one fitness blogger has set out to let us know that nobody’s perfect — and that even her stomach has rolls when she sits down. In a recent Facebook post, Ashlie Molstad shared side-by-side photos: one of herself looking svelte as usual and another of her seated, with belly rolls.

“Same girl. Different angles,” she wrote to her 63,000 followers on Nov. 11. “If I’m going to show you the posed, put-together, professional sides of me, I’m gonna make damn sure you see the not-so-flattering sides too. Because, contrary to what society has taught us to think, our worth isn’t measured by how many belly rolls we have, or how many dimples on our booty, or how much jiggle hangs out on our arms.” In the post, which has been shared more than 59,000 times, she called out the bloggers who perpetuate the idea of perfectionism. “Loving ourselves exactly as we are is hard. Because we’ve been told for years that we’re not good enough until we [insert any of the thousands of ideas of perfection that has been fed to us over the years]. But I call BS. I say that the real magic happens when we embrace who we are, at every angle and size.”

Molstad said that she was scared to post the photos but knew how important it was. “I know it was a message that people needed to hear,” she told Us Weekly. “When I share my struggles publicly, it helps me realize I am not alone, it helps other people realize that they are not alone, and, because there is strength in numbers, it helps us all heal a little bit, together.”

Molstad isn’t the first blogger to show us how deceiving and well crafted a fitness blog can be. Read on for the inspiring women who bring blogging down to earth.

Jessica Pack
One blogger showed the power of great lighting after receiving questions about how she got rid of her cellulite.

Hailey Bettencourt
Even fitness bloggers get bloated.

Jess Rae King
This curvy model proved what a booty pop can do for your shape.

Anna Victoria
Nobody is immune to a belly roll.

Emily Skye
Six-packs are almost always flexed.

Tiffany Brien
“No I’m not 6 months pregnant. It’s just my food baby. These two photos are 12 hours apart, left before bed and right when I woke up.”

Sophie Kay
These photos were taken minutes apart.

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