The day before her wedding, Anna Victoria, an Instagram fitness star known for The Fit Body Guides and her 978,000-strong following, Snapchatted her pre-wedding body looking super-toned. She then sent out a second photo of her stomach rolls, which was taken two minutes after the first photo. She posted it later on Instagram in response to requests to do so.
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Something about the typically flawless fitness guru getting real AF struck a chord: The photo racked up more than 58,200 likes. We touched based with Anna—who's currently on her honeymoon—to get the backstory:
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What motivated you to share a photo of your belly right before your wedding?
I reached my "goal" body a long time ago, but I still see pictures of fitness models on Instagram who have visible abs when they sit down. I most definitely do not, and it's something I used to get really down on. I would wonder why I work so hard to be in the best shape and still look so different. It's taken me a while to get to a place where I fully understand that everybody is different and, most importantly, that that's okay!
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As far as sharing it right before the wedding, I knew that my wedding body was in the best shape I had ever been in. I wanted to further reiterate that when you sit down, it's normal to have rolls, even if you have a very low body fat percentage. I wanted to show that it's OK for your body to look different from various angles. Everyone has bad angles, but that's not what defines us.
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What habits did you change to get your body "wedding-ready"?
I follow my Fit Body Guides (FBG), so I continued to follow the principles laid out in my meal plan, but I was a lot more strict. I usually have a cheat meal every week and I don't hold back, but in order to get ready for the wedding, I limited my cheat meals to much smaller portions to avoid going overboard. During the week, I kept my meals as clean and natural as possible.
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My body responds best when I am eating food that is entirely unprocessed, so I made sure that I ate several servings of vegetables throughout the day, and that my meals were balanced between protein, good carbs (mostly veggies), and good fats.
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As for my workouts, I continued to follow my FBG workouts, but I focused on keeping the intensity level high to increase the caloric burn, while still focusing on muscle engagement in order to tone my body. On the days I did cardio, I focused on high-intensity cardio or sprints, as well as my FBG ab circuits after.
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How many photos do you typically take before posting one on Instagram to find your best angle?
If it's a day I am feeling particularly lean—and I do tend to bloat easily; some days are better than others—I will take about a dozen photos before I stop to see if I actually like them. If I do, I will choose between up to about 15 shots to find one I like. The differences between the photos are always extremely minor, something like the difference in my hair or my smile.
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What advice do you have for women who compare their own bodies to bodies they see on Instagram?
If you see a girl on Instagram who has a beautiful body, use it as your motivation, not as a comparison. Work hard to achieve your own dream body, not someone else's body. A big part of a fitness journey is actually learning to love yourself for who you are.
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Elizabeth Narins is a Brooklyn, NY-based writer and a former senior editor at Cosmopolitan.com, where she wrote about fitness, health, and more. Follow her at @ejnarins.
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