After blogger Callie Thorpe posted photos of herself on her honeymoon, she found herself the target of some surprisingly negative comments.
"The comments started coming after I posted a photo of myself riding a bike in my bikini on a day out in Tulum,” Thorpe told People. "I had such positive feedback, but as with everything I received a couple of nasty ones calling me names. [The comments said] 'I should keep cycling, then I wouldn’t be so fat' and 'Save the whales.' Pathetic stuff, really."
The comments are especially heartbreaking, considering that Thorpe also said that she feels the most confident in her body when she's away on vacation.
"I felt wonderful on holiday," she told People. "Whenever I’m away I always feel my most confident. I especially feel so when I’m doing something that people think I can’t do, like paddle boarding, kayaking, cycling and exploring beaches and cenotes. People think because I’m overweight there is no way I could do any of those things."
Thorpe said that the body-shaming began to bother her once she was heading home from her honeymoon.
"One in particular made comments about me needing grease to get into my wedding dress and that really upset me," she says. "I think it was an accumulation of exhaustion after a 10-hour flight, and it being one of the first things I saw when I got back into our home together. I started to cry and I just thought, 'When will this stop?' and 'Why do I deserve this just because I share pictures of myself enjoying my life on the internet like everyone else?'"
That's when she decided to address the comments in another Instagram post showing off her cellulite, and rallied her followers to do the same.
"Let's talk about cellulite," she wrote in the caption. "I have it, you most likely have it. It's a part of our skin, it's bumps of fat underneath said skin and I promise you that no matter how many creams our how much you 'brush your skin' you will still have it. It makes no difference on you as a person or certainly on how attractive you are."
Thorpe also urged her followers to post their own cellulite photos, and made a nod at Gabi Fresh, whose video about the "optical illusion" of cellulite recently went viral.
Above all, Thorpe just wanted her readers and followers to know that "your body is just one small element of who you are."
"How kind you are, how loving you are, how powerful and strong and intelligent you are is also important," she told People. "I think we put too much pressure on ourselves, and kindness is key in finding body love."
Body-positive reminder of the day: Be kind to yourself and to others.
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