'This is the real me': Why one blogger's lingerie photo is going viral

Sarah Tripp is on a personal quest to bring body positivity to the forefront — and her latest Instagram post is really striking a chord with followers.

Recently, the San Francisco blogger, who goes by Sassy Red Lipstick, posted an honest caption alongside a selfie in which she stands in a lingerie set.

“This is me. Sunburned skin, stretch marks on my soft tummy, all of it is the real me. And I love every part of it. Sometimes I think back on my time in college when I spent years worrying about my weight because I thought I had to be a certain size to be fashionable, wondering why I didn’t get asked out on as many dates as my thin friends,” she wrote. “Fast forward to now and here I am, posting in bikinis and undies and celebrating these curves for the world to see.”

ALSO SEE: John Stamos’s model wife had the perfect response to a troll who called her ‘gross’

“Self-love is a journey, full of ups and downs… Your body is good. Your body is beautiful. Now you just have to start believing it.”

With more than 15,000 likes and 300 comments, her followers praised the blogger’s growth.

Tripp, who has been blogging since 2013, decided to pursue her passion for style full-time after years of feeling not good — or thin — enough. Regularly writing about her experiences as a “curvy” blogger, Tripp speaks openly and candidly about the connotations behind such a title.

“Being a woman with curves in the fashion industry can be challenging. For us curvy women, it feels like the majority of brands don’t make clothes with our body type in mind. That can lead to a lot of insecurity and self-doubt and a lot of curvy women just feeling like they can’t be fashionable,” she told Yahoo Canada.

“As a blogger who is proud of my curves and has worked hard to create a platform that inspires women of all shapes and sizes to feel confident and be stylish, it’s my mission to change this perception. I feel so blessed every day to have an incredible following of girls and women who reflect this positivity back to me and include me in their self-love journey.”

“I call myself an ‘in-betweenie’ because I’m not straight size and I’m not plus size,” she continued. “I’m a size 10/12 which means a lot of time I’m in this no man’s land of sizing, a curvy woman who is not quite plus size,” she said.

ALSO SEE: Woman’s post about buying her first plus size bikini isn’t what you’d expect

Tripp is no stranger to reminiscing about how she used to feel about her body. Revisiting her high school years of self doubt, the now-confident curvy blogger admits it took a shift in thinking to stop making body goals based on how she used to look.

“I’ve learned that as a woman our bodies change and evolve daily. A lot of women get so concerned and worked up about looking like they did in high school or hitting that number on the scale from five years ago – and that is just a recipe for self-doubt and anxiety,” said Tripp.

“Make that conscious decision to cut out all negative thinking when you look in the mirror and stop being your own worst critic. Look at the parts you’ve been at war with and love them instead.”

Tripp doesn’t always feel like the curvy, body positive blogger she portrays, but she consistently surrounds herself in people who make her feel unstoppable. Admitting when it comes to confidence, it’s not always easy, she says her husband is her biggest cheerleader.

“My husband Robbie has helped me in my self-love journey more than I can express. I have always said that lasting self-love has to come from within, but having a cheerleader is such an important part of that journey,” said Tripp.

“I started to believe that guys didn’t want curvy girls. Then Robbie came into my life and immediately made me feel so beautiful and desirable. He was a big part of my realization that my curves are sexy, that there’s nothing wrong with being a size 12 and rocking a bikini… I’m so lucky to wake up every day and create with this man who loves me so beautifully.”

“My passion is for helping women love their bodies and feel comfortable in their own skin. I feel that my whole life changed when I started being open and vulnerable about my self-love journey online and seeing how many women it connected with. It makes my heart sing when I get messages from women saying I’ve helped them learn to love and accept themselves.”

Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Check out our brand new podcast, Make It Reign — our hot takes on all things royals in a non-stuffy way — on iTunes and Google Podcasts.