Chances are, if you've ever seen a side-by-side photo post on Instagram, it was likely a transformation photo that highlights the strides someone made in their fitness goals to become more athletic, or to lose weight. But one blogger is posting side-by-side photos to show off her weight gain and why she's completely proud of it.
Body-positive blogger Megan Jayne Crabbe, otherwise known as bodyposipanda, took to Instagram on Sunday to post two side-by-side photos of herself, highlighting that she had gained weight over the past two and a half years — and she couldn't be happier.
"On the left is me 2 1/2 years ago, just before I found body positivity, and on the right is me today, she wrote in her caption. "You'll probably notice the most obvious thing I've gained between these two pictures: weight. But there are so many other things I've gained as well."
Crabbe noted that in the time between the two photos, she had gained more body-positivity as well as self-love and mental freedom.
"I've gained my life back after so many years of believing that I wasn't worthy of living it because of how my body looked," she wrote.
Crabbe is grateful that she was able to gain self-love, but most of all, she wanted to send the message that your happiness and well-being are not tied to a number on the scale, and to destroy the idea that being thinner will make you happier.
"I know I'm supposed to feel ashamed of this transformation," she wrote. "But I'm not going to do that. Instead I'm going to tell you what I learnt from all those wasted years chasing washboard abs and dropping numbers on the scale: happiness is not a size. Weight loss does not cure self hatred."
She concluded by imploring anyone reading her message to realise that they are worthy of self-love exactly as they are.
"It's time we took a stand and refused to keep hurting ourselves in the pursuit of a 'perfect' body that doesn't even exist," she wrote.
Crabbe's post is a great reminder that while it's not a bad thing to have fitness goals for yourself, it's also important to remember that your worth is not tied up in your weight. As she says, "mental health matters more than a dress size does."