Molly Galbraith posted the photo of herself on a beach in a skimpy bikini on New Year’s Day alongside a post showing people their New Year’s resolution doesn’t need to be to change the way they look.
The 31-year-old personal trainer wrote about her constant battle to achieve the perfect body.
She said she had been called “too fat”, “too thin” and “too masculine” in the same week.
Ms Galbraith, from Lexington, Kentucky in the US, also said some social media users had said they would “kill themselves if they had this body”.
She wrote: “For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to change the way my body looks. I’ve been overweight and I’ve been very lean, and I’ve been everything in between, but no matter my size or body fat percentage, it was never good enough.
“I always thought, ‘if I could just [insert change to my body here] then I would be good enough/pretty enough/worthy enough’.”
She added: “I was thinking a few weeks ago about how I used to always stress about how my body looked, and whether I was ‘lean enough’ (whatever that means) so I had my boyfriend take that picture of me, on a random Tuesday, with no special angles or lighting or preparation.
“Just my body, as-is.
“When I woke up on New Year’s Day and realized it was the first year in as long as I could remember that I hadn’t made any resolutions to change my physical appearance, I felt compelled to share it with my community.”
The Facebook post has received nearly 85,000 likes and has been shared over 12,000 times.
Ms Galbraith said she wanted to show people they can be happy with their bodies and should love them as they are.
The personal trainer, who owns a women’s health and training site called GirlsGoneStrong.com, said: “Loving your body isn’t ‘giving up’ or not striving to improve – it simply means being OK with who and where you are at this very moment, and wanting to treat your body well because you deserve it, not trying to hate your body into submission.”
She added: ”With all of the companies preying on the insecurities of women selling them quick-fixes and fad diets for their New Year’s Resolution, I wanted to do something different.
“I wanted to show them an example of a strong and healthy woman who isn’t interested in changing the way her body looks.
“This is my body.”
Thousands Facebook users have posted comments supporting Ms Galbraith, saying she looks “beautiful”, “natural”, “confident” and “sexy”. – Express.co.uk