Whitney Thore shares inspirational post on body acceptance, fans support her and say ‘choose souls over bodies’
There is nothing more powerful than accepting your body just the way it is. Whitney Thore, a long-time propagator of body acceptance and loving oneself for who you are, has once again inspired her fans through her latest Instagram post. She shared a video of herself donning swimsuits, looking gorgeous and smiling confidently, which she captioned, “If you’re a fat person, wearing a sleeveless shirt in 90° weather, how many times has someone shaken their head in disbelief and pointed out how BRAVE you are?”
“If you’re a fat person walking on a treadmill to warm up for a three mile jog, how many times has a stranger given you a thumbs-up, encouraged you to 'keep going,' and applauded how BRAVE you are? If you’re a fat person, and you post photos of yourself on the internet swimming, laughing, or otherwise living life joyfully alongside other thin people doing the same thing, how many times has someone declared their envy and cheered you on for how BRAVE you are?” Then she continued, “If you are NOT a fat person, how many times have you actually thought about how bizarre this is?”
As soon as the post was shared, many fans shared their own painful journey as an overweight person in the comments section as one user wrote, “I was bullied constantly for my weight growing up and that left me with horrible self esteem so when my daughter was born I made sure to teach her that all bodies are beautiful and there's nothing wrong with her no matter how thin or voluptuous she may be. If only we would look at souls instead of bodies. How different our ideals of beauty would be. I absolutely love my body now. Took me 34 years..lol..but I appreciate myself so much more now.”
Another fan, whose journey sounded similar to the 'My Big Fat Fabulous Life' star’s journey, wrote, “I have struggled with my weight my entire life. My highest weight was 308 lbs and I got down to 136 lbs 3 years ago. I'm back up to 200+ lbs and I'm 60 years old. I'm tied of being judged by how much I freaking weigh. I was always told 'you have such a pretty face, you'd be even prettier if you'd loose some weight.' I became a certified personal trainer/ group fitness instructor & did that for 11 years straight, until I broke my leg 3 years ago. I was teaching/training after having had 4 major knee surgeries where I could barely walk... That's when I was 308 lbs. I continued teaching/ training while having had 2 total hip replacements/1 total knee replacement. Since I broke my leg 3 years ago, I've quit teaching/personal training. Since then I've put on some weight. Now I'm trying to embrace who I am and how I look & feel at my current weight. Finally trying to not care about what others think about me. I want to be who I am without judgement. I want to live my life now without constantly obsessing about my weight, counting calories. You inspire me Whitney. Thank you for that.”
Another fan shared how they faced discrimination while searching for jobs just because of their weight. They wrote, “I’ve been fat my whole life ... I’m 37 ... my parents told me I was worth less than my skinny sister... I needed to make sure I studied hard and get a good education because I wasn’t going to find a 'good man' looking the way I do. Why is it the bigger we are the less we are worth? Why? I’ve been turned down jobs because I was told my body is a temple and I obviously am too lazy to take care of it so I would obviously be a bad employee as well …”
‘My Big Fat Fabulous Life’ Season 8 will air on November 8, 9/8c on TLC.
