Period Bloat: Fitness Blogger Proving It’s A Real Thing With This Insane Instagram Pic

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Malin Olofsson is a fitness blogger and girl-power champion. She’s struggled with an eating disorder, but now is healthy, strong and very fit.

Most of her Instagram snaps show her toned stomach and muscular arms. But she is also keeping it real by showing off her “bloated” stomach. Back on Feb. 17, she posted two photos back to back — one showed her flat stomach and the next was a side view of her “bloated” tummy. She wrote then: “It is all about angles! Remember this. Pictures are merely pictures – they are not a reflection of the entire reality. It is a flat representation of a small part of the real world. Of a real person. A real person gets bloated sometimes. It is normal. A normally functioning body bloats.” That post had 842 likes as I write this. 

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Fast forward to March 10, and a post with 8,500 likes! Along with a side view of her stomach, her body-loving message read in part:

“Some of you have seen this before.
Some of you haven’t.
Some of you experience and go through this yourself once a month.
Some of you will be disgusted.
Some of you will sigh with relief and think — Omg I’m not alone….. This is the visual signs of PMS for me and many other women. For some it’s less extreme, for some it’s more.
Water retention is a very normal and common symptom of PMS….THIS 👏🏽 IS 👏🏽 NORMAL.
This is nothing to be ashamed of.
Yes — it is very uncomfortable, and yes — it is really difficult to not feel like you must hide it and try to suck your stomach in.
I’ve stopped…..It is never anything wrong with how your body looks….You are perfect and your body is just doing it’s job.”

Read her entire message below:

——————————————– Some of you have seen this before. Some of you haven’t. Some of you experience and go through this yourself once a month. Some of you will be disgusted. Some of you will sigh with relief and think -Omg I’m not alone. Some of you will not read this caption and presume that I’m pregnant. ——————————————– This is the visual signs of PMS for me and many other women. For some it’s less extreme, for some it’s more. Water retention is a very normal and common symptom of PMS. Some women will hardly notice it and some go through immense discomfort for a couple of days a month. It can start anytime between ovulation and your period. ——————————————– THIS 👏🏽 IS 👏🏽 NORMAL. This is nothing to be ashamed of. Yes – it is very uncomfortable, and yes – it is really difficult to not feel like you must hide it and try to suck your stomach in. I’ve stopped. I’ve decided that breathing is more important than what other people may or might think. I’ve decided that my body’s reaction to the hormonal change is not going to be an aspect that I let contribute to my already unstable mental state. Because when I have PMS, I already feel like dying. And I’ve decided to love my body no matter how I feel about life. ——————————————– Do not blame your body for how you’re feeling. It is never your body’s fault. It is never anything wrong with how your body looks. Yes – your body might experience discomfort due to hormonal changes – so instead of making it worse through shaming your body, try doing the opposite. Realize that this is when you need extra self-care and self-love. Realize that you don’t have to be ashamed and hide. You are perfect and your body is just doing it’s job.

A post shared by MALIN 🌱 (@malinxolofsson) on Mar 10, 2017 at 9:44am PST

We’re obsessed with the REALNESS coming from Malin right now! With so many picture perfect images out there — thanks to editing apps, angles, and other tricks, it’s nice to know “perfect” girls are just like us — we should all love ourselves and be happy with our bodies.

HollywoodLifers, do you get bloated during your period? Is this fitness blogger inspirational to you?