"It’s completely normal and human to have 'bad body image' days."
We are all fake online, this is a known fact. It's hard to keep your Internet persona the same as your real-life persona. So today, we would like you to meet Sara Puhto, a 25-year-old Finnish content creator and body acceptance advocate with a following of 380,000. By posting photos side by side, she is able to illustrate how fake photos on social media can get. Through her popular Posed v. Unposed photo series, juxtaposing her natural form and a distorted version, the creator wants everyone to stop comparing themselves to other people.
She uses herself as an example, which is as realistic as one can get. Kick back and see how silly comparing yourself to people online can get and you can stop feeling insecure about yourself now!
Be sure to follow our website for more content like this and please share this post on your social media.The series idea came to her in 2016, when her Instagram profile was tailored to reflect her fitness journey, and Sara found herself looking at other people's photos for inspiration. "I initially got the idea to post posed vs. not posed photos [when] I was looking at photos of people on Instagram."
"I felt like I was the only one constantly looking at images on Instagram and feeling like I was never good enough, as I was comparing my body to all the 'perfect' pictures," she continued. "But I started realizing I wasn't the only one, and I didn't want others to keep feeling the way I did — being obsessed with this idea of having to look 'Instagram worthy' all the time. So I started posting photos of what the reality is behind my Instagram photos."
Whether it be a side-by-side of her flexed and un-flexed form...
Source: saggysar
...encouraging others to stop sucking in and let their bodies breathe...
...or simply showing the same body in different poses, Sara hopes viewers internalize that "the people in these seemingly 'perfect' photos don’t look like that all the time."
Source: saggysar
"Your body isn’t a trend," Sara wrote in her Instagram bio. "So don’t treat it like one!"
Though this may seem simply put in hindsight, it took time for the 25-year-old to grow comfortable with her body, and some days are easier than others. "[Sharing these photos] helps me as well, on days where I don’t feel well — either mentally or emotionally — about my body. It helps having a platform to be like, 'Hey, it’s OK to not be OK; we can embrace that as well!'"
Source: saggysar
"I just want to highlight the importance of the non-linearity of self-acceptance and body acceptance," Sara concluded. "It’s completely normal and human to have 'bad body image' days. We can’t expect to love and be happy with ourselves 24/7; it’s completely human for emotions to change as life goes on. And therefore we shouldn’t be too self-critical or hard on ourselves when these days do come about."
It's a sweet reminder for all those on their own journey to self-love. In Sara's comment section, followers struggling with insecurities share how her posts have impacted them:
They appreciate the gentle reminder that many people struggle with self-image at one point or another, and it can be a day-by-day process:
"Your posts always make me feel a sense of relief and a warm flow of confidence," one user wrote.
