Women Share Body Positive Stories with #GainingWeightIsCool Trend on Twitter

Gabrielle Olya
Updated

On January 1, many people resolve to lose weight in the New Year — but not Arianna Dantone.

The body positive social media star and fitness coach posted a tweet on New Year’s Day with side-to-side photos of her body before and after gaining weight while getting more fit. She posted the photos — which have been “liked” 1.8k times — with the caption “Gaining weight is cool.”

Dantone then asked other women to share their own positive weight gaining stories using the hashtag #gainingweightiscool. Her post sparked other women to share photos of their own weight gain transformations on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag, many of whom had suffered from eating disorders.

Dantone’s hashtag now has almost 10,000 posts on Instagram and countless more on Twitter. She shared on Instagram that seeing the posts has helped her just as much as they have inspired others.

I promise this is my last post of the day. Two things I want you to do rn: head to @krissymaecagney's page and purchase her project. It's the best $16 you'll ever spend. Then head to my Twitter and check out my thread #gainingweightiscool. Women empowerment is fucking incredible. Everyone is saying the thread helped them. Imma be real rn and say it helped me even more. I have been having severe anxiety and self worth issues this week leading up to the LA FIT Expo. It's no secret I've gained weight since the Dallas Europa and sometimes that makes me feel inadequate as a "fitspo". I feel as if I'm unworthy to work booths or to be amongst lean people? Idk why. But then I thought -- damn, I'm more than my body and gaining weight isn't the worst fucking thing in the world. It's actually incredible. And it's only when I start comparing to others that I feel like it isn't. SO BAIIII to that. I feel so happy right now after everyone shared their journeys and stories. I am happpy to say hi this is me. This is my body. It's fucking amazing. It does great things. And this weight gain has been necessary and so freeing on my MIND. I should not feel any less because of it!!!! And neither should you. You should feel strong, healthy, capable, and beautiful. Because you are. I am. And that's fucking legit. Posting this with no filters and no edits because wasssupppp here I am, this is me. This is what I'll look like at the expo and I will be hugging everyone so damn hard and not worrying about if I look as "good" as someone else. Because HEY we all look good and we are all at different stages and how incredible is that??? #very

A photo posted by Arianna Dantone (@ariannadantone) on

“Everyone is saying the thread helped them,” she posted. “ be real  and say it helped me even more. I have been having severe anxiety and self-worth issues this week leading up to the LA FIT Expo. It’s no secret I’ve gained weight since the Dallas Europa and sometimes that makes me feel inadequate as a ‘fitspo.’ ”

Dantone says her weight gain made her feel “unworthy,” especially when she started comparing her body to other people’s, but the #gainingweightiscool posts helped her to snap out of that mindset.

“I feel so happy right now after everyone shared their journeys and stories,” she posted. “I am happpy to say, ‘Hi this is me. This is my body. It’s f—— amazing. It does great things.’ And this weight gain has been necessary and so freeing on my mind.”

“I should not feel any less because of it, and neither should you,” she continued. “You should feel strong, healthy, capable and beautiful. Because you are. I am.  We all look good and we are all at different stages and how incredible is that?”