In my early twenties I took pride in the fact that I was cellulite- and stretch-mark free.
It was actually kind of weird, because I’ve never been obsessed with physical perfection, but as a petite and curvy girl I noticed that most girls my shape had at least a bit of cellulite and I didn’t.
Honestly, I’m pretty embarrassed recalling how I once compared myself to other women. Now after two kids, I’m blessed with both cellulite and stretch marks.
I still marvel at it, and it’s been a process for me to accept it.
Now I know that cellulite is perfectly normal and incredibly common
Cellulite is fat just under the surface of the skin that causes a dimpled appearance, but you know what? Humans need to have fat on their bodies in order to survive.
In fact, the recommended body fat percentage for a woman that is considered very fit is 15 to 25 percent, and for average healthy women, it’s 25 to 32 percent.
Let that sink in—up to a third of your body weight can be made up of fat and you’re still considered healthy.
Some of that healthy fat is bound to show in places—usually, it’s a bit of cellulite. Plus, it’s genetic and, in most cases, there’s really not much we can do about it anyway.
Even naturally thin women have cellulite, college girls have it, athletes like Serena Williams and celebrities like Kim Kardashian have it.
I exercise several days a week and I still have it. I’ve lost all the baby weight and I still have it.
Even those beautiful Instagram girls have it and use certain tricks of light, tape and poses to conceal it. What for?!
If more of us were open and honest about our bodies, perhaps more of us could accept our bodies, and things like cellulite would no longer be considered flaws.
In fact, if it were normalized, we might even stop noticing it all together.
Then, maybe, we could all stop wasting so much time and energy worrying about outward appearances and start focusing on more important things like our mental health and physical well-being, building strong relationships, uplifting other women and succeeding in our goals.
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