Trigger warning: This article contains content that may be upsetting for some readers.
It's a common assumption: Weight loss is positive, weight gain is negative. In reality, there are countless reasons people change size. What's more, happiness with your body and happiness in general doesn't hinge on the number on the scale, which one woman's powerful recent Instagram post is now highlighting.
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Last week, Instagrammer Hannah Foster shared a post featuring two images of her in bathing suits. The image on the left, she wrote, is from 2012, shortly after Foster had lost a significant amount of weight. "[The girl on the left] was in a nasty relationship, living abroad and lonely, and despite losing weight STILL HATED HER BODY," she said . "Losing weight won't make you love yourself."
Foster added that the girl on the right side of the photo weighs more but has a much healthier relationship with her body. "Pic on the right is after 25 years of realizing that losing five pounds won't make me a better person, it won't make me like myself, and most importantly it won't make me happy," she wrote . Foster said that she now heads to the gym and eats well, but not for weight loss: "It's because I only get one body and I want to use it as long as possible."
Foster also spoke to Yahoo! Style about her body image journey, and she has important advice for others navigating their relationships with their bodies. "The turning point for me was talking with someone about disliking my body and she said, If you talked to another person the way you talked to yourself, you would seem like the most horrible, nasty person. Youre not a horrible, nasty person, so why do you treat yourself that way?" Foster said . "This just blew my mind." Now Foster's dedicated to spreading this message of self-compassion on her own Instagram.
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Original post:
This Woman's Before and After Photos Show Weight Loss Doesn't ... - Allure Magazine
