Scroll through Emily Skye’s Instagram feed, and you’ll see plenty of photographs of her flaunting her toned, muscled body in workout clothes and swimsuits. But between shots of her chiseled abs and sculpted butt, there are other photos that tell a different story. In these photos, Skye reveals what she actually looks like when she hasn’t angled her body a certain way, isn’t flexing, and isn’t standing in a perfectly lit room. She still looks amazing—she is a fitness trainer and model, after all—but she proves that even she has belly rolls when she sits down, lacks a perfect six-pack when she’s not flexing, and occasionally gets bloated to the point where her pants are too tight. In other words, she’s human.
Take, for instance, these before-and-after shots that were taken 3 seconds apart:
“I know with me, it’s all about lighting and all about posing,” Skye told Health in this exclusive video. “I don’t want to just post that because I want people to look at my page and see the contrast between those posed images and the ones that are real.”
Skye’s workouts are fast, effective, and fun, and she has never shied away from dishing about her own struggles with self-acceptance and body confidence. That’s why Health partnered with her on the 30-Day Love Your Strength Challenge, a get-fit program to help you become your strongest self, inside and out. Join us!
Watch the video for more, or read the transcript below:
Now we all know how much on social media there’s just these perfect bodies floating around everywhere. We’re bombarded by them. We can’t escape them. Online, there’s so much that goes into play to produce a photo, this perfect photo. There’s lighting, there’s posing, there’s clothing. There’s even Photoshopping. These photos online aren’t real. I see so many women every day comparing themselves to these people, these pictures they have got up, where they look perfect. I see comments from young girls saying things like “body goals” and love goals and “I want to look like this.”
I know with me, I know all about lighting and all about posing. But I don’t want to just post that because I want people to look at my page and see the contrast between those posed images and the ones that are real. So that’s why I always like to put up things like my bloating photos, and photos of me when I’m sitting down showing tummy rolls and showing the difference between flexing and not flexing. There’s a massive difference. All you can do is try to be the best that you can be, and that way you’ll always be happy.