Influencer Shares Body Transformation Photos to Prove the 'Journey Isn't Linear'

Like most women, Jo Encarnacion has seen her body change shape and size over the years. But despite all the shifts, this San Francisco-based lifestyle blogger and life coach isn't bashing herself. Instead, she's celebrating her acceptance of these changes by posting about them on Instagram.

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On October 6, Encarnacion, 35, shared a series of photos of herself from various points in her life—during workouts, in fitness competitions, and just being at home, looking in the mirror. Encarnacion's goal? To demonstrate how unlike typical before and after images, her health and fitness journey has been anything but linear.

“These days my body is the softest it’s been all year,” she wrote. “I haven’t had the energy or capacity to train or workout as hard as I have because it leads to feeling too drained to focus on issues of the heart and soul. Some days I’m a warrior other days I’m a worrier and that’s perfectly OK with me.”

She explained that for years, she tried to attain the body type that she felt was society's ideal, believing that her “stretch marks, loose skin, and soft short frame was not enough.”

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“If we make self-love or body acceptance conditional, the truth is, we will never be happy with ourselves. The reality is that our bodies are constantly changing, and they will never remain exactly the same. If we base our self-worth on something as ever-changing as our bodies, we will forever be on the emotional roller coaster of body obsession and shame.” — Chrissy King These days my body is the softest it’s been all year. I haven’t had the energy or capacity to train or workout as hard as I have because it leads to feeling too drained to focus on issues of the heart and soul. Some days I’m a warrior other days I’m a worrier and that’s perfectly OK with me. For years I lived chasing that the standard of beauty and health that society and culture choked down my throat. For years I believed the stories that my stretch marks, loose skin, and soft short frame was not enough. All I have to say to that is “F%cK you society, these are my #strengthmarks! I’m a brown ass Filipina woman who’s was born short and will never be long and lean like the women you idolize on health and wellness advertisements.” #sorrynotsorry From 2013-2016 I chased the idealize and romanticized vision of what a healthy body “should” look like not realizing that I was still conditioning my mind to believe in things that weren’t true to my soul. Today I’m just going to work on what’s good for my soul and that is to love and embrace the roller coaster of life that this body and warrior of a woman is on. #womaninprogress #selflovecoach #bodyneutrality #allbodiesaregoodbodies swipe left if you want to see the journey my body has been on. the last photo is the first mirror selfie I took of myself in 2013. ✨ the journey isn’t linear and if someone ever tells you that it is call out their bullshit because life eggs and flows and the body flows with it ✨

A post shared by JO ENCARNACION || Life Coach (@gofitjo) on Oct 6, 2019 at 10:53am PDT

“From 2013-2016 I chased the idealize and romanticized vision of what a healthy body ‘should’ look like not realizing that I was still conditioning my mind to believe in things that weren’t true to my soul,” she wrote.

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Encarnacion also included this quote in her caption: "If we make self-love or body acceptance conditonal, the truth is, we will never be happy with ourselves. The reality is, our bodies are constantly changing, and they will never remain exactly the same." She then urged readers not to base their self-worth on appearance.

“Today I’m just going to work on what’s good for my soul and that is to love and embrace the roller coaster of life that this body and warrior of a woman is on,” she said. That's empowering advice for everyone.

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