Amanda Roberts (Mandas_Muffintop) reached 330 pounds at the age of 20. At her all-time biggest, she decided to have weight-loss surgery to save her life. By also hitting the gym five or six times a week and eating only small portions of healthy meals, Amanda was able to lose 150 pounds, simultaneously gaining over 70,000 followers on Instagram inspired by her weight loss journey.
But after losing all that weight, Amanda was left with over 14lbs of excess skin.
At first, she wanted to live with her body the way it was. “When I first realized the extent of my loose skin and the medical issues that came with it (rashes, sores, possible infections, and general discomfort,) I had made the decision to learn to love my body as it was, loose skin and all,” Amanda told BuzzFeed. “I thought that I wouldn’t be able able to afford skin removal surgery for a long time – at least five or more years – but I did know that it would be necessary eventually.”
“I decided to be at peace with my body and mind and love myself as I was,” Roberts explained, “because I’d worked hard for my body, to lose the weight and be healthier.”
But then something happened that changed Amanda’s life; Her #tummylovethursday hashtag gained steam and got her an invite on The Doctors, where she was offered free skin-removal surgery.
“I remember feeling relief and happiness, because something that seemed like a far-off dream was suddenly going to be reality. I also felt a bit of sadness because I had worked so hard to practice self-love with my loose skin,” she said.
Because this is the internet, some people were unhappy with Amanda’s surgery, accusing her of hypocrisy for preaching self-love but still opting for cosmetic surgery.
“They said that if I truly loved myself, I wouldn’t want to change anything about myself, but the way I see it: if you love yourself, you’ll do whatever YOU feel is best for your body.”
Of course, it is totally Amanda’s right to do whatever she pleases with her body to ease her path to self-love.
“Before surgery, I’d learned to love my loose skin. Instead of seeing it as a bad reminder of the past, I saw it as a trophy showing how far I’d come in my journey.”
“Loving myself at every stage of this journey has been my ultimate goal, and I’m proud to say I’ve reached that goal every time thus far.”
“Self-love is such a personal journey, there shouldn’t be any guidelines or criteria for self-love or body-positivity, other than that you are actively working to love yourself.”
Go Amanda go!
We are all just human sacks of flesh trying our best in this world. Let’s cut each other some slack.