Anna Victoria: Blogger shares 'stomach roll' photo to spread message of self-acceptance

'Your stomach does not have to be perfectly flat to be healthy'

Anna Victoria (Instagram @annavictoria)

A fitness blogger has shared an inspiring message encouraging women to accept their stomach “rolls” as they are “nothing to be ashamed of”.

Anna Victoria founded the Fit Body Guides 12-week training plans in 2015 and has 856,000 followers on Instagram.

Victoria usually posts images of colourful fruit ensembles, her toned abs or videos of herself doing workout routines. Four days ago, she shared a post that was noticeably different to those usually appearing on her blog.

Alongside the image of herself sitting down, Victoria listed the two reasons as to why she posted it. Firstly, “having your skin fold over on your stomach when you sit or to have ‘rolls’ is not anything to hate or be ashamed of”, she wrote.

Secondly, she described the reason why women hate their “rolls” is because society has conditioned them to.

“There have been times where if I ever found myself in front of a mirror where I am sitting and I see my stomach, I automatically think ‘ew!’ because this is what society has conditioned me to think.”

Victoria’s post has been liked over 25,000 times and met with positive responses, with followers crediting her for changing their perspective and making them feel better.

Spreading a wider message about body positivity, she also wrote that as a society “we shouldn’t let the physical characteristics set the standard for whether we deserve to love ourselves or not”.