WITH more and more women taking to social media to show off their natural beauty, Megan Carole is one social media influencer that wants to share how she looks without the filters – regardless of what the trolls say. 

24-year-old Megan, from Oxfordshire, has amassed an impressive 120k followers on Instagram, where she regularly shares self-love and body confidence and acceptance content.

The content creator and actress is a bra size 36E, ranges from a UK clothing size 16 to 18 and wants to encourage others to love their bodies, just as much as she adores hers. 

But Megan’s body acceptance journey hasn’t been totally smooth sailing – the young woman spent years hating her body, constantly on diets in an attempt to slim down.

But now, Megan has learnt to embrace her body – curves, rolls, lumps, bumps and all – and is on a mission to see more others feel the same.

Megan told Fabulous: “I used to follow all of the Victoria’s Secret models – I would even have them as my phone wallpaper – that was my motivation, that’s what I wanted to look like.

“I then just unfollowed them all and realised that I was constantly comparing myself.

“It was such a toxic mindset to be in – you need to curate your own feed so that it benefits you in a positive way, rather than being in a constant comparative cycle.

“But now I am so much more confident in my body. I can wake up one day and feel super, super confident but it’s also more that I’ve learnt how to accept my body – this is my body and it’s my home for the rest of my life.

“I’m not going to constantly be at war with my body, I’ve got one life, so I want to live it to the full, rather than just bullying myself.

Most read in Fabulous

“I’m a completely different person and thinking about it now, it’s quite overwhelming. I would go on holiday and put a baggy t-shirt on, or I’d wear shorts to cover my thighs and things like that, but I’ve done a complete 180 now. Now, I can go on holiday and I don’t care what I look like”.

Megan’s self-love journey began in December 2019, where she suddenly felt fed up with comparing her body to other people’s and began to embrace her natural self.

FABULOUS BINGO: Get a £20 bonus & 30 free spins when you spend £10 today

She explained: “It was just before New Year in 2019 and I had had enough of hating my body. I was in my third year of drama school and up until that point, I couldn’t tell you the last time I wasn’t on a diet.

“I literally hit a point where I thought ‘I am going to take a photo of myself, in my underwear’, because I had never seen a body like mine, that hadn’t been edited or Photoshopped so I thought, I’m just going to do it.

“I posted the picture on Instagram and it started to go viral. A lot of negatives came with it  too, but my Instagram is me – no filter, straight from the camera.

“I’d had people say that they can finally look at themselves in the mirror after seeing my posts.

“It makes me really emotional because I have been that person that I needed when I was younger and the fact that I can have conversations with anyone and it gives them a bit of hope or encouragement to wear a tighter dress or do something that they wouldn’t have done before, it’s really incredible.

“If we hide our imperfections, it plays into the idea that we should all be smoothed and airbrushed and smaller. That’s what the beauty ideal is. 

“But I do personally feel that that is now changing and people are accepting what they have and are embracing it.

“Posting on Instagram helped me to feel more body confident – even just with relationships, people noticed how different I was because I started to love myself a bit more, so I had a bit more love to give out”.

However, posting self-love content on Instagram hasn’t always been straightforward for Megan, as she has had to deal with the dark wrath of nasty online trolls.

The content creator added: “With the trolls, it's gone from zero to 100 – people will say “you’re fat” and I’m like “ok…well done, state the obvious”, but people will try and make it into a negative thing, but it’s not a negative thing.

“But then it also ranges to people telling me to go and kill myself.

I’m so baffled at how upset people are that they have to tell someone to go and kill themselves – but I can deal with it, even though I shouldn’t have to.

“Now, when I do have comments from people saying that I’m promoting obesity, or that I’m vile or commenting the sick emoji, I just think, what in your day has hurt you so much, that you need to spend a few seconds typing something so horrible, to someone you don’t even know.

“It’s always from complete and utter strangers – and often comes from young males and older males – but who are you to comment on a woman’s body?

“I’m so baffled at how upset people are that they have to tell someone to go and kill themselves – but I can deal with it, even though I shouldn’t have to.

“When I’ve shared some of the nasty comments online before, some people will say that I should expect it, because of the ‘controversial’ content I post online, but I’m literally just posting myself, I don’t get how it’s controversial. 

“There was a period of time where the nasty comments were flooding in and it made me second guess myself and whether or not I was doing the right thing.

“It is tiring, constantly receiving nasty messages about my body, but I have to remember that it says so much more about them and how insecure they are as a person.

“My sister is my first bodyguard – she checks the comments without me knowing and she will tell the trolls to go away. She’s lush. There was a nasty comment on one of my recent posts and she put ‘please leave’.

“But I don’t reply anymore – sometimes I really want to, because I don’t want them to have the last word,but I know I’m the bigger person for not replying.

“I feel more in control not replying because I know they're not getting the satisfaction of me biting. I know who I am as a person, they don’t know me”.

Not everyday is going to be a good day, you’re going to have days where you want to go ten steps back, but just know that it will be better and everything will be fine. Life is too short.

But regardless of what the trolls say, Megan is thrilled with her self-love journey and is proud of who she is today.

She revealed: “Something that I have learnt a lot on this self-love journey about not hating myself is that you have to accept yourself first, to then start giving yourself a bit of love.

“It’s not an overnight thing – you won’t wake up one day and love yourself, but it’s more about accepting and knowing that this what you’ve got, this is who you are and the appearance and physicality on the outside is a completely different thing to who you are on the inside and that’s what matters the most.

“Bodies are fascinating and I’m more interested in what it does, rather than trying to make it be something it’s not.

“It’s so easy to say ‘love your body’ but you have to implement it – there’s a little bit of ‘fake it till you make it’ – you need to trick your mind into thinking you’re confident, that does help. 

Read More on The Sun

My baby girl swallowed a water bead and nearly died- don’t buy them please

Five DWP benefits to be scrapped by the end of 2024 – are YOU affected?

“Then you’ll feel the genuine love and acceptance for yourself when you get it. But you have to do those little steps first.

“Not everyday is going to be a good day, you’re going to have days where you want to go ten steps back, but just know that it will be better and everything will be fine. Life is too short”. 

Source: Read Full Article