5 British body positive activists you should be following on social media

Canadian body positive activist Kenna Brenna created a hashtag buzz after posting her first #CelluliteSaturday post to her Instagram page.

Brenna, 26 , told Self magazine:“I thought [#CelluliteSaturday] might be a cute little slogan to put on a picture of me showing that I have cellulite. Coming from a woman who goes to the gym five days out of the week and who eats a balanced diet, I still have cellulite and that’s something I want to show people. I may be uncomfortable with it, but it’s here and I’m going to try as best as I can to accept it.

HAPPY SATURDAY MORNING ☀️ It’s also #cellulitesaturday, I realize I didn’t post one last week. But I sorta wanna try to make it a thing. The word cellulite still makes me cringe. It still makes me wanna run and hide and not come out and I have somehow lipsuctioned it out of me or try to dry brush it into the dark places of the universe. That’s really not the fucking case. The only way to get rid of cellulite is to lose overall fat. With overall fatloss, your body may lose fat in the areas that you have celluli- AND HERES THE JOOCEY PART, YOUR BODY MAY ALSO ✨NOT✨ LOSE FAT FROM THOSE AREAS. Because we cannot spot reduce (stop it, we can’t, pls don’t comment and say you can I’ll just delete you misinforming people) you can’t pick or choose whether or not you are a person who can reduce your appearance of cellulite. Notice how I said appearance. Appearance because cellulite LITERALLY translates to the appearance of fat cells. And because we will forever have fat cells at some percentage or another, for women (and some men,) you can’t really avoid this baby. We all have it to some degree or another. It’s not an indication of health or fitness level or self worth. ITS A COSMETIC “ISSUE.” It’s just a thing our bodies do. It’s just a thing our bodies do. It’s just a fucking thing our bodies do. It’s that simple. And the beauty industry capitalizes on it. Imagine if a unicorn was chopping off its horn because it’s culture says so. We would tell that beautiful unicorn that it’s bananas for doing something like that. No. Just no. Like I said in my previous cellulite posts, it’s difficult for me to accept, but I eat my greens, I drink my water, I foam roll, I’m at the gym 5x a week, I have Epsom salt baths, I’ve dry brushed, got “cellulite massages”, tried creams and considered getting surgery. So don’t tell me a way to “fix it.” I’m over it #celluliteacceptance #endbodyshame #thisiswhatfitlookslike #boldandbeautiful

A photo posted by Kenzie B (@omgkenzieee) on Oct 8, 2016 at 6:03am PDT

 

Could this be the start of a revolution? With the recent rise of ‘self love’ activists taking to social media to fightback against out-dated and frankly unattainable beauty standards, we’ve found seven British babes who are leading the way.

They’ll have you like:

                                             via Giphy

 

Iskra Lawrence

This model from believes  #everyBODYisbeautiful.

Having acne in her teenage years knocked her confidence but she is now in a place where she is comfortable in her skin. 

my campaign for @cocoreefswim …what a beautiful day and great memories #cocoReef #flauntYourShape #iskralawrence #everyBODYisbeautiful

A photo posted by Iskra lawrence (@iamiskra) on Oct 26, 2016 at 5:42am PDT

 

Gracie Francesca 

Dubbed as the internet’s big sister, Gracie has been battling with self-hate and insecurities all her life. She recently posted a daring image of her body  and admits that she has days when she still struggles. (we feel you girl)

If you woke up today, looked in the mirror & decided to hate yourself. Remember it’s society that has to change, not you. 💗 if we saw more women with stretch marks, more women with cellulite, more women who didn’t look perfect, the world would be a better place. (Look at my saggy boob trying to show you a nip) 😂

A photo posted by Gracie Francesca (@gracefvictory) on Oct 2, 2016 at 2:50am PDT

 

 

Megan Crabbe

Megan previously struggled with anorexia and says body positivity saved her life. She runs the Instagram page Bodyposipanda and has 292,000 followers.

Do you wanna know the truth about gaining weight? Because I’ve done a whole lot of it. I used to believe that my life would end over a couple of extra pounds on the scale. I used to believe that losing weight was the most important thing in the world. I used to believe that there was no such thing as going too far, getting too thin, losing too much. Then I nearly lost my life. There were only two options left: gain weight, or die. So I gained weight. More and more. Anorexia morphed into binge eating disorder and within a year I’d gone from 65lbs lying on my death bed to 180lbs, right back to self loathing and wanting to lose weight more than anything in the world. I lost and gained hundreds of pounds over the years. I’d clawed my way back from the edge and still I believed that happiness could be found in the dropping numbers on a bathroom scale. Until I realised that no weight loss had ever made me happy. No amount of disappeared pounds had made me stop hating my body. And chasing thinness had made me lose much more than weight – I’d lost myself. Now I know that no matter how much extra jiggle might come along, nothing important about me will have changed. I’ll still have the same heart, the same mind, the same passion, the same love. The scale will never be able to tell me anything about myself that truly matters. It doesn’t have the power to define me – only I do. And I refuse to keep chasing that empty promise of happiness granted through restriction and self hatred. I’ll take my happiness right now. We are all so worthy of it, exactly as we are. Don’t be afraid of gaining weight, my love. There’s a whole life for you to gain when you stop letting those numbers dictate your worth. 💜💙💚🌈🌞

A photo posted by Megan Jayne Crabbe 🐼 (@bodyposipanda) on Oct 25, 2016 at 10:04am PDT

  Mel Wells 

The former Hollyoaks actress, known for her role as Loretta Jones on the channel four show, has suffered with bulimia and is now the latest ambassador of the Be Real Campaign. She is also the author of The Goddess Revolution which talks about making peace with food, learning to love your body and consequently reclaiming your life.

Want to know my most personal food and body confessions from times gone by… that will either completely shock you… or make you absolutely die laughing 😂😂😂 I was just thinking goodness me….I used to do some pretty horrendous stuff with food and TO this precious body (home) of mine. It’s a miracle my body has healed and agreed make friends with me… truly! ❤ If I can do it after all I put her through…then so can you, trust me! ❤ On tonight’s live Pyjama Party at 8pm I’ve decided I’m gonna share with you some of the most shocking, most funny, and most downright GROSS to be honest, stories and confessions with you. Yes it will get mighty personal. No – you’re not alone or broken. Grab your PJs and show up at 8pm BST 😘😘 I am laughing just thinking of JUST how many stories I have for you that I didn’t share in the book because I just thought it would be TOO MUCH for the readers hahaha 😂…cripes the things us women do to ourselves in the name of weight loss – it’s shameful 🙈🙈🙈 Join us at 8pm – head over to melwells.com/livecall ❤❤❤ The Academy closes in a few hours! Link in my bio 💚😘 #GGAcademy #TheGoddessRevolution

Une photo publiée par M E L W E L L S 🌙🌊 (@iammelwells) le 16 Sept. 2016 à 10h47 PDT

 

Charli Howard

This model is the co-founder of all woman project website, that fights for representation for ladies of all ethnicities, body shapes and styles. The size 6 model was sacked by her former modeling agency earlier this year for being ‘too big’. She talks about this in the video below.

It sounds overly dramatic (because it is), but if I’d seen this photo a couple of years ago, I would’ve cried at my tummy and thighs and the fact they looked bigger than the models I worked with and idolised. Not only that, but there were times I’d look “bigger” in a photograph and be asked to come into my then-agency to be measured & to check I didn’t actually look that big in real life. But working in the #bodypositive movement has drastically changed me as a person & I’m now just happy to be myself ✊🏼 Thank you @anastasiagphoto for helping me love my body and to feel confident in my skin. If I look as good as @nicolajgriffin when I’m older, I’ll be happy! 👙💕👏🏼 @modernmusesnyc @musemodelsnyc @becca_thorpe @straightcurvefilm @people

Une photo publiée par Charli Howard (@charlihoward) le 27 Oct. 2016 à 9h06 PDT

 

There it is! Why not let these girls reassure and motivate you when loving yourself gets difficult.