Instagram star loses 70,000 followers after stopping posting bikini and fitness pictures

'Having a six pack and thigh gap doesn't make you happy. Pizza and cookies are f***ing delicious.'

It seems like for each “influencer” posting #fitspo on Instagram, there’s another promoting body positivity.

And at least one Instagram star has made the jump from fitness to self-love - although it’s cost her 70,000 of her followers.

Sophie Gray - whose handle is @wayofgray - has spoken out about why she’s stopped posting pictures of herself in her sports bra or bikini and instead is enjoying eating pizza and cookies.

After an Instagram account promoting women’s fitness shared a photo of Gray with the caption, “Nothing tastes as good as being fit feels,” she commented, “Actually, from experience and seeing as I’m the person in this photo… I know that pizza and cookies taste way better.”

Alongside the screengrab, Gray explained why she’s stopped posting fitness photos.

“Having a six pack and thigh gap doesn’t make you happy,” she said. “Pizza and cookies are f***ing delicious. And I’m sick of women being told they have to be anything other than themselves to be happy.”

Gray admitted that she was “in the #fitspo industry” for years, and still encourages people to exercise and look after their bodies, but she’s had enough of the concept of fitness inspiration.

She’s now promoting “self love over six packs,” and has explained how she now lives a balanced lifestyle that her former self wouldn’t have approved of.

“Today I had breakfast, went to the farmers market, had chocolate covered almonds, lunch, and this doughnut,” Gray captioned a recent post. “I also plan to work out, go to the dog park and have dinner.”

She explained that trying to live up to the exacting standards of being a fitness influencer was making her insecure.

“Because, if you always think you have to be something to be enough, you never will be. But, if you can wrap your head around the truth that you are enough exactly as you are, freedom awaits you.”

But changing her Instagram account resulted in her follower count dropping from 430,000 to 360,000 - that number has since gone up to 384,000 though.

However, Gray has pointed out that the fact that she’s been praised for being honest on Instagram says a lot about the world we live in.

“It’s sad because filtered photos are the norm when it comes to social media,” she wrote. “It’s sad because it’s unique to actually celebrate yourself. It’s sad because, as women, we have blindly accepted the truth that who we actually are isn’t worth being seen.”

Gray says she’s “f***ing over it.” And we should be too.