This fitness blogger’s side-by-side proves just how much Photoshop can be misleading
No matter how many times we’re told that all bodies are beautiful due to their unique differences, it’s sometimes hard to accept a part of your body that you’ve never seen as beautiful. Sara Puhto, a vegan and fitness blogger, posted an eye-opening side-by-side photo on her Instagram showing her photoshopped figured in comparison to her natural figure. For some, it might be hard to spot the difference between the two pictures. But for Puhto, sharing this Photoshopped image of her waistline is a positive milestone in the journey to accepting her insecurities.
"I've wanted to post this for a long time but haven't felt like I had a photo of my body from the front where I genuinely felt happy with the way I looked and liked the photo on the left more than the photoshopped one on the right," Puhto wrote in her caption.
She continued, “It sounds cheesy but I honestly think it’s because I finally accept my insecurities and now feel like I’m loving them.”
Puhto explained how she always wanted a “curvy, tiny waist,” and how she strived to look like all the other girls who had those waists. She said that seeing the promotion of waist trainers upset her. “I know they don’t really work,” Puhto wrote, “and I’d never be able to use one anyway cause it would mess up the titanium in my spine.”
She decided it wasn’t worth thinking about what she wanted to change about her body. It was time to show it love instead.
"Instead of striving for a certain body goal through working out," Puhto wrote, "I just workout because it makes me feel amazing and let the results come, when and if they come." The results did come, and Puhto has gained a great deal of muscle. She explained in an Instagram post that she felt as if she was doing something wrong when her pants size increased from gaining muscle. But she has since realized that the number on the pants doesn't define her, and the lesser the number doesn't always mean the healthier the person.
In the caption of her Photoshopped picture Puhto writes:
"It's good to look unique and you should be happy about the things that make you look unique. There's no point in going through life hating yourself because it's exhausting. So rather than having the 'perfect' body type in your mind, because perfect doesn't exist, focus on the best you can be. Trust me you'll be so much happier."
Sara, you are truly an inspiration! [
