Girls, can we have a real talk about our stomachs and the fitness industry for a minute? It's swimsuit season soon and there's been a lot of posts about losing weight and people tearing themselves up about their pooches or their stomachs or whatever.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think all women's bodies are gorgeous because we are strong and we are goddesses and we do and SHOULD come in every shape.

BUT - for those of us who are feeling inadequate about our waists - I'm here to tell you that any time you see and girl with a scooped out abdomen and nice long abs and a butt with no gluteal crease, I promise to God she does not look like that all day every day. She looks like that for ONE picture, and for you can't compare your every day life body to the body of someone who's sucking their intestines into their diaphragm and pushing their hips out so far that her lower back feels like it's going snap.

Fitness models prepare for weeks to do photo shoots and intentionally dehydrate themselves over a long period so they can look good for a couple hours, because they're paid thousands of dollars to look that way. That's not healthy and that's not representative of their normal figure. That lean AF, paper thin skin look is not a long term attainable goal for anyone, not even people who do that sort of thing professionally. You're seeing a brief snapshot of their life, not what they see every day in their mirror.

You can't kill yourself chasing something that is legitimately not even real. Don't tear yourself apart because you don't look like someone who's expending massive effort to look a certain way in order to sell you something (waist trainers, meal plans, supplements, diet tea, detox crap).

I took a few pictures (all within seconds of each other, these are not before and afters) to prove my point, I hope to God I don't offend anyone and I'm so sorry in advance if I do, but I wanted to make my point visually.

On the farthest left, I'm letting my stomach hang out - I'm not forcing it that way - that's how it looks if I'm asleep and not holding my abdomen braced. That is literally just how much volume my perfectly normal awesome internal organs take up.

The middle picture is me standing relaxed, looking every day all the time. I always brace my abs slightly just to maintain good posture, it helps relieve back pain.

The last picture is me nailing a stomach vacuum - which is no joke PAINFUL and takes concentration to maintain. I can do this for a couple of minutes at a time at the most.

The last two pictures - same thing. The first I'm standing relaxed. The second, I've stomach vacuumed AND placed myself at a severe anterior pelvic tilt by pushing my ass back. Notice how suddenly my gluteal fold (butt crease) "disappears". I didn't do any exercises, I just contorted my spine into an entirely unnatural position. You can actually tell I'm tilting my pelvis because the back of my underwear is waaay higher than the front. I didn't pull the waistband up there.

I have cellulite on my butt and every part of my legs. My ass is covered in stretch marks. My stomach makes rolls that leave creases in my skin when I sit down in a comfortable position. It's fine. It's normal!

My point is, if you're starving yourself or hating your body - maybe try to figure out why you feel that way. Maybe you're chasing an unattainable goal.

If you're looking for inspiration, find fitness role models who are real, positive, have healthy relationships with food and actually speak to women's health issues. Take a look at Erin Stern or Jessie Hilgenberg (who is pregnant right now) or Ashley Horner (who has multiple children and wears her stretch marks and loose stomach skin proudly, she's also a tireless advocate for domestic violence survivors). Find women you can surround yourself with who will lift you up and speak positively about other women, instead of making you feel inadequate about yourself. Throw everything else away, screw anyone who thinks that shame = motivation.

You are beautiful and you are strong and you deserve to give yourself a break. Don't internalize fake bullshit, be your own fierce defender.