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This Mom’s Stunning Before-And-After Photos Are Not What You Expect

People aren't fat. They have fat.

Morgan Shanahan
by Morgan Shanahan

BuzzFeed Staff

Allison Kimmey is a body image lightning rod. Like, basically a goddess. Her Instagram feed is filled with gorgeous pictures of her at her happiest, rather than at her thinnest.

The mom of two shared with BuzzFeed where her before-and-after journey began. "My Instagram feed was FILLED with before-and-after weight loss pictures. I looked at my own life, and started to realize that my story looked quite different."

"After spending 15 years trying to achieve the perfect before-and-after photo, I was most alive right then, in that moment, being far heavier than I once was," Kimmey explains.

Over the summer, Kimmey's daughter called her fat in a fit over having to get out of the pool. Her response went viral.

"In the moment, I knew that it was important for me to reassign a new meaning for this word that had plagued me most of my life. I knew that I didn't want her to grow up thinking that it was bad."

The mom's message is that happiness is not, and will never be, associated with a number on a scale.

And her growing number of followers couldn't agree more.

Kimmey's community is now a place where women can share and heal their body image wounds.

And the internet isn't the only place that Kimmey is inspiring people. Not long ago, her husband turned to her and confessed, "I've never told you, but you've inspired me too, to feel comfortable in my body."

Her greatest triumph? The Florida mom is beginning to see the impact her message and confidence have had on her children.

One more personal thank-you, Allison. You’ve helped me learn to love my body, too. Keep doing you.

#ConfidenceGoals