A health guru has paid tribute to her ‘belly rolls’ while sharing a powerful reminder that they are a natural part of her body and should be embraced.
Chi Pham, an Instagram star from Denver, Colorado, shared a photo of her ‘Insta-worthy’ abs alongside another image of her stomach in ‘real life’ to show that it’s normal for your tummy to have creases and rolls.
‘Dear world: I have skin. I have fat. Sometimes, my skin and fat combine to make rolls. Sometimes, I eat a lot and my rolls double,’ she wrote.
Keeping it real: Chi Pham took to Instagram last week to share an image of her ‘Insta-worthy abs’ alongside a photo of her creased tummy in ‘real life’
Owning it: The Instagram star from Denver, Colorado, said her ‘skin and fat and rolls’ are a part of her, just like her eyes, skin color, and height
‘Sometimes, I don’t eat as much and my rolls shrink,’ Chi continued. ‘Sometimes I lift weights and my rolls change shape. Sometimes I run and my rolls change location.’
The competitive athlete and yoga teacher said her ‘skin and fat and rolls’ are a part of her, just like her eyes, skin color, and height.
‘These are things that are natural. These are things that I embrace,’ she wrote before sharing an impassioned plea for society to stop telling people their stomach rolls are flaws that they should try to fix.
‘Dear world, please stop telling me that it’s unnatural to have skin and fat and rolls,’ she wrote. ‘Stop telling me that I have to blast it all away.
Body positive: Chi, who often shares her progress with her 144,000 Instagram followers, asked society to stop telling people their stomach rolls are flaws that they should try to fix
Real versus Instagram: In July, Chi shared a photo of her thighs touching while sitting by a pool alongside another image of her thigh gap
‘Stop telling me that summer time means that I shouldn’t have cellulite anymore,’ she added. ‘If you could, that would rock. If not…. #f**kyourbeautystandards.’
Chi, who has more than 144,000 Instagram followers, uses her social media platform to promote body positivity, and this isn’t the first time she has demonstrated how a strategic pose can make someone’s body look perfect on Instagram.
In July, Chi shared a photo of her thighs touching while sitting by a pool alongside another image of her thigh gap, explaining the first one is ‘real’ and the second one is what you see on social media.
‘Your body isn’t too fat or too skinny or too “whatever isn’t making it perfect”. You have muscle, skin, and fat,’ she wrote. ‘Sometimes it all splooshes out when it’s being pressed up against some concrete.’
Honesty: The competitive athlete and yoga teacher has admitted on Instagram that she used to hate her legs because she thought they were too big
Loving herself: Chi said she has learned that it is okay that she will ‘never be like that tall, slim, blond, white woman’
In a more recent post, Chi once again spoke about how she used to hate her legs, particularly her thighs.
‘They were disproportionately big, they looked huge when I sat down,’ she explained, noting that as a swimmer she was ‘constantly surrounded by girls with thigh gaps’ when she was younger.
‘If I could go back, I’d tell 14-year old Chi: I know you feel a LOT of pressure to look a certain way. And let’s be real, you will never be like that tall, slim, blond, white woman with tiny waists and long legs. BUT THAT’S OKAY,’ she wrote.
‘It’s more than okay. It’s f**king awesome because you are uniquely you,’ she continued. ‘Your legs might not look like theirs, but YOURS will power you through races, hike hundreds of miles through mountains. Your legs are strong.
‘You are strong. And in embracing how strong and unique you are, you can start to love yourself even more.’