One thing we love about health influencer and blogger Steph Claire Smith is that she is always so incredibly open with her followers – sharing a ton of her daily life through both her main feed and Insta Stories. And while it may be a rather charming one she’s living, she’s also not afraid to open up about some of the rawer topics.
Which is exactly what she did on social media yesterday. Renowned for having one of the best bods in the biz, Steph took to Instagram last night to help spread the message of body confidence. Posting a picture of herself taken at 18 and one at 23, Steph’s big tip for followers is not to be scared of changes to their bodies – advising to just accept and embrace them.
“A different kind of ‘before and after’ photo.. the one on the left, me at 18 years old, first year modelling. On the right, me now, 23 years old. I decided to do one of these because a few of you have either followed me since then, or had scrolled down far enough to see that I was quite tiny back in the day! And I’d like to clarify a few things for you,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Firstly, no I didn’t have an eating disorder (although back in the day I continuously got told to ‘eat more’ on social media). I had an incredibly fast metabolism. I was still in my ‘childlike body’ and I was a late bloomer. It wasn’t until 19 when I got hips, boobs and a bum and started to have to actually think about what I was eating and how I was exercising. In the left photo I was eating crap everyday, and lots of it. I was a sporty kid, but didn’t do much physical activity at 18, so that was my body naturally. Believe it or not, I thought I had chubby thighs ?
“It was scary for me (as it is to a lot of girls and guys) when true puberty hit and I suppose I was growing into my ‘more womanly figure’ and I was putting on weight. I work hard now for the body that I have. I may be 10kgs heavier than I was but that’s life… our bodies change overtime and we have to accept that and love and work with the body you’ve got! That’s not to say I don’t have off days where I question the way I look… we all do. EVERYBODY HAS INSECURITIES! And I mean EVERYBODY! But as my good mate @laura.henshaw has taught me, you have to focus on what you LOVE about yourself and your body, and try your best to ignore the ‘bad’ stuff.
“We all have transformations, whether they are through training, or eating or just getting older… you’re going to change. My message to the younger girls who follow me is to just go with it! Don’t be too shattered when you start seeing lumps and bumps appear, and DON’T WEIGH YOURSELF in the process, or ever really. It can be the most damaging thing mentally for you! Just eat well, enjoy life and keep active ❤️.”
Slight admittance: We do have an exclusive interview with Steph coming up on Husskie next week, but we couldn’t help but write about this inspiring post [you can never have too much SCS content though, right?!].
All images: @stephclairesmith
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