This Woman's Photo with and Without Shapewear Is Taking Over the Internet
Olivia, better known as Self Love Liv, started her Instagram as a way to document her journey recovering from anorexia and self-harm. While her feed is full of empowering, body-positive messages, a recent post struck a major chord with her followers, and it's easy to see why.
In a side-by-side comparison, Olivia confidently shows how much of a difference simple shapewear can make to your natural figure. She revealed that she first purchased the shapewear (which aren't made by the brand Spanx, btw) with the intent of wearing them under a figure-hugging dress. But she quickly realized that they simply weren't going to work for her.
"Do you know how uncomfortable these things are...breathing was not an option!" she writes. "I felt tight, uncomfortable and restricted in the first photo. The relief of taking them off was amazing!!"
"You don't NEED them," she continued. "I feel totally fine in the second photo, and I can breathe again!"
Her powerful message has already garnered more than 33,000 likes and is a wonderful reminder to love and appreciate your body just as it is instead of feeling obliged to hide it in some way. Olivia says it best herself: "You are fabulous. You are flawless. You are beautiful. Don't let any [one] tell you otherwise." (Olivia isn't the only one revealing the truth behind perfectly staged photos. Anna Victoria proves that even fitness bloggers have "bad" angles.)
