While many women will be aware that the bodies we see on Instagram are unrealistic, that doesn’t stop many from comparing themselves unfavourably to what is on our feeds.
This is exactly why the bikini designer and CEO of Moana Bikini, Karina Irby, felt prompted to act.
The 27-year-old from Port Macquarie posted a comparison photograph of herself on Instagram, in which she aimed to showcase the difference between a real and an edited photo.
She also detailed exactly what she did to her body – from smoothing to shrinking, lifting and more – in order to get the perfect ‘Insta girl’ snap.
Karina Irby is the founder of Moana Bikini; the 27-year-old from Port Macquarie posted this Instagram comparison snap to show the difference between natural (left) and edited (right)
‘Let’s play a game. It’s called reality vs Instagram,’ Ms Irby wrote – she said that every time she saw ‘Insta girls’ snaps, they were always attracting young girls’ comments such as ‘GOALS’
‘Let’s play a game. It’s called reality vs Instagram,’ she wrote. ‘Every morning I wake up and scroll through my personal Instagram feed and spy “Insta girls” posting unrealistic images of themselves,’ Ms Irby began her now-viral post.
‘The girls I follow that portray these images have big followings, often with hundreds of thousands of young girls looking up to them as a role models.’
She continued by saying that often when she scrolls through Instagram, Ms Irby will find ‘young girls tagging their friends “GOALS” and “OMG WHY DON’T I LOOK LIKE THIS’.
‘The truth is these girls don’t look like this. They look like you, like everyone,’ she added.
‘The truth is these girls don’t look like this. They look like you, like everyone,’ the 27-year-old (pictured) wrote
The 27-year-old then listed what she did to get the perfect social media-ready snap, including a ‘full body smooth’, ‘lifted my booty’, ‘thinned out my arms’ and much more
The 27-year-old then explained that she had ‘gone ahead and copied the classic “Insta Girl Edit” in my second image’ and listed what she did to get the perfect social-media ready snap.
‘Full body skin smooth, enlarged my booty, sucked in my tummy, sucked in my back, thinned out my arms, thinned out my quads, made my neck a tad skinnier, got rid of my scars and cellulite, made my breast rounder, lifted my booty,’ she explained.
‘After all these little tweaks, can you notice how my horizon is warped? So many girls are so into how their Insta image is going to be portrayed that they don’t even notice they have warped the background!’.
Ms Irby concluded the post – which has since racked up close to 23,000 likes in less than 24 hours – by writing that she is ‘not here to play mean girl towards others’:
‘I simply want you to love yourself and stop comparing yourself to unrealistic images online’.
‘Look out for the signs of the “Insta girl edit” and don’t take social media too seriously. Let’s get real,’ she concluded.
‘Look out for the signs of the “Insta girl edit” and don’t take social media too seriously. Let’s get real,’ Ms Irby (pictured) concluded
Ms Irby’s (pictured) post has since gone viral – with close to 23,000 people liking it in less than 24 hours
Earlier on this year, Karina Irby drew plaudits for sharing a candid three-way photograph of her ‘fitness journey’ from 2013 to the present day, alongside her story.
The transformation saw Ms Irby move from a ‘total cardio head’ to someone who only does cardio ‘once or twice a week’, replacing this with weights.
‘2013 – I was a total cardio head! I loved going for long runs,’ Ms Irby posted.
‘I had no idea about what foods I should be eating and no idea about health and fitness in general,’ the 27-year-old added.
‘I wasn’t eating nearly enough of the right food, or food at all to be fuelling my body.’
In the accompanying picture, the designer was visibly slim and toned – but totally different to the third shot in the collage.
Next to the second photograph in the journey, Ms Irby wrote: ‘2014 – Still a cardio head and loving it! I started at a gym and maybe went twice/three times a week.
‘I had no idea what I was doing and how to perform the exercises correctly,’ she continued.
In the second photo, the designer clearly had more muscle tone and a bigger bum, but she said she was ‘still not eating enough food to fuel my body and muscles’.
Earlier on this year, Karina Irby drew plaudits for sharing a candid three-way photograph of her ‘fitness journey’ from 2013 to the present day, from ‘cardio head’ (left) to weights lover (right)
In the last snap, Ms Irby resembled how she looks today – a look which has seen the 27-year-old rack up an impressive half a million followers on Instagram, many of whom want to recreate her figure.
‘2017 – Present day. I’ve been working out, hard, for the past 2-3 years,’ she said.
‘I started at a personal training gym @starke_fitness and participated in four, 45 min sessions a week. I lift weights, heavy weights!
‘I only do cardio once or twice a week, but still incorporate weights into my exercises. I eat well and I eat a lot,’ the 27-year-old wrote.
To follow Karina Irby on Instagram, please click here.