If you're a mom who's ever looked at the #fitness and #mom tags on Instagram hoping for inspiration to lace up those sneakers, it's easy to get discouraged by all of the seemingly flawless thighs and flat abs out there. Not only are we faced with endless posts of moms in perfectly coordinated workout outfits getting their sweat on while their little ones play happily underfoot, but there's also never a single stretch mark or hint of cellulite to be seen.
But it turns out not all of those fit moms posting perfect photos online are blessed with great genes (or Photoshop skills). Fitness influencer and mom-of-two Laysa Neto is showing us that those photos are all about posing and angles, and that even moms who are in great shape can still have pregnancy souvenirs like stretch marks and loose skin.
In a series of three photos, she shows us how easy it is to present a sculpted midsection for the camera, even if that's not always the case.
In her caption, the 28-year-old explains that she's not posing in the first image. "I am relaxed, completely relaxed not even pushing out or anything," she wrote. "In the second image, she's boldly showing that housing two babies left extra skin on her tummy. In the third photo, "I am literally not breathing in the picture to flex this hard," she joked.
Images like these are so important because even though we know angle tricks and Photoshop exist, far too often the only photos we see posted are the ones that look like that third image, when the truth is anything but. "I don't have constant abs," Neto admitted. "I'm the 1st picture 99% of the time babes."
Neto's also working to help women realize the perfect butt may just be a photo illusion.
"Angles are everything, lighting is everything, POSING.. gosh the posing even the type of leggings babe.. high waisted .. low waisted . . The ENDLESS possibilities babes. So don't be hard on yourself!!" she wrote. Neto's not saying we should abandon squats forever if we like working out, just that you don't have to look like a Kardashian from the waist down to be smashing your fitness goals, because it's all about the pose.
She also challenges us to think twice before we declare someone else's body "perfect."
"Can’t see my 'imperfections' in every picture. But they are there," she wrote, alongside a photo of her looking like a swimsuit Barbie next to photos that show cellulite on her thighs. Leg bumps or not, Neto's obviously gorgeous. And who said lumpy legs are a flaw anyway? "But honestly like who friggin cares! It's skin people," she added. "If it 'grosses' you out then see ya later."
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Neto says her goal is for all moms to feel flawless, regardless of what their bodies look like.
"I know women can feel discouraged, sad, disappointed, upset because they didn't get their bodies back or it has been marked," she wrote. "They may feel lost and don't know what to do. Your inspos or fitspos or whatever may look flawless but they aren't. I promise."
Raise your hand if you needed to hear that. Even if we know that the images we see online aren't the whole truth, it's so easy to look at them and get discouraged about our own bodies. But the truth is, women's bodies do amazing things, and the evidence of that — the stretch marks and the skin — are nothing to be ashamed of.
This is what true #fitspo looks like.
Neto's posts are a refreshing reminder that "perfection" is what you make of it, and not everything we see online is as it appears. Here's to loving our kids, and loving ourselves, exactly as we are.
