'I have cellulite, stretch marks and some jiggle on my belly': Former body builder who used to be 'embarrassed' by her physique reveals why she refuses to 'embrace her flaws' this year

  • Molly Galbraith, from the US, owns the fitness brand Girls Gone Strong 
  • She encourages women to find confidence in themselves and their bodies
  • She won't embrace her flaws, as she never decided they were flaws to begin with
  • Ms Galbraith believes women are fed a narrative of 'ideal' body standards 
  • 'I won’t subscribe to someone else's standards and ideals for my body,' she said  

By Lauren Grounsell For Daily Mail

Published: 20:27 EST, 2 January 2017 | Updated: 23:13 EST, 2 January 2017

Molly Galbraith is one woman who will not 'embrace her flaws' this new year.

Why? Because she's 'not the one who decided they were flaws to begin with'.

The 32-year-old former bodybuilder has taken a stance against society's preconceived perception that women should strive to attain perfect physiques.

'That narrative was handed to me as a very young girl,' Ms Galbraith, who owns the business Girls Gone Strong, wrote in a Facebook post.

Molly Galbraith said she would not 'embrace her flaws' in 2017 in a powerful Facebook post

The Girls Gone Strong business owner said she was not the one who determined her 'flaws' to begin with

'It's a narrative that made me feel self-conscious and like I was bigger than all of the other girls. 

'It's a narrative that made me feel ashamed of, embarrassed by, and apologetic for my body.'

Ms Galbraith, from Lexington, Kentucky, owns Girls Gone Strong: a fitness-based company that encourages women to find confidence in themselves, and their bodies, without negatively comparing themselves to others.

She said women were made to feel that cellulite and belly fat as undesirable, and she was ashamed, embarrassed, and apologetic about her body

She has since come to the realisation that she should not stand for someone's else's ideals for a perfect body

In her New Year's Facebook post to her 82,000 followers the certified strength and conditioning specialist said while messages to 'accept' or embrace' flaws were well-intentioned, she simply did not agree.

'I agreed with this narrative for decades, and I let it run through my head like a broken record while punishing myself with intense exercise and restrictive dieting to fix those things the world told me needed fixing,' she wrote.

'Not anymore.

'I'm almost 5'11" (152cm) and weigh 170 pounds (77 kilos).

'I have cellulite on my legs, stretch marks on my hips, butt, and breasts, and some jiggle on my belly — and the world constantly wants me to believe this is not okay.

'I have cellulite on my legs, stretch marks on my hips, butt, and breasts, and some jiggle on my belly — and the world constantly wants me to believe this is not okay,' she said

'But I won’t subscribe to someone else's standards and ideals for my body.

'So, instead of embracing what someone else determined to be a flaw of mine, I choose to embrace my whole, flawless body.'

In an interview with Daily Mail, Ms Galbraith said each new year women resolved to lose weight, flatten their stomachs and lose dress sizes.

But she said for many women, these goals were not even their own.

'As women we are taught at a very early age that our bodies are riddled with flaws and that we must be beautiful before we can be anything else,' she said.

Through her business she wants women to find confidence in themselves and their bodies, and not negatively compare their figure with others

'How my face actually looks 99% of the time (hint: not the top left picture)' Ms Gailbraith wrote alongside this picture she posted to her Instagram page

'Feeling ashamed of their bodies keeps young girls and women from going out for sports, participating in class or work meetings, and applying for schools and jobs that they really want. 

'Our preoccupation with what is "wrong" with our bodies silences our voices and prevents us from being fully engaged in the world and our own lives.

'I want women everywhere to understand that they do not have to subscribe to anyone else's ideals or standards for their body.'   

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