A woman who battled with weight issues for most of her life has bravely shared a photo of herself sporting her first ever bikini.
Krystal Gordon, 31, shared the empowering photo on Facebook and was met with warmth and praise from the online community.
The blogger, who shares her fitness and wellness journey online, hopes the photo will inspire others to learn to love themselves and their bodies.
“You don’t need a certain type of body to have a bikini body,” she said. “You just need to put a bikini on!”
Gordon shared a photo of herself sporting a brand new, floral bikini on her Facebook page ‘Krystal Gordon - Inspiring Wellness’.
She wrote: “Omg, I just bought a bikini!!! What the heck? Lol. I also just took and shared a front on photo of me without my clothes on - double what the heck!?
“Loving thy self baby. Embracing it all. Being proud of my progress. Accepting me for who I am right now even if it isn’t where I want to be.”
She continued: “Now don’t get me wrong, sharing this isn’t easy by any means - every bit of me is going ‘holy shit Krystal, what are you doing!?’. But if I can happily accept and celebrate everyone else’s body, I sure as hell deserve the same love from myself.”
Gordon said she has given herself the goal of wearing her new bikini in public.
“I WILL get there. It WILL happen. You don’t need a certain type of body to have a bikini body - you just need to put a bikini on,” she concluded.
The wellness blogger said she shared the post to inspire others to do the same. She told Australia’s NewsMail: “That moment of vulnerability was totally worth it because it made someone else think about loving themselves.”
Gordon’s post prompted other women to write to her telling her that she’d inspired them to buy a swimsuit and love themselves.
Hayley Sayers wrote on the post: “OMG you have made my day beautiful girl!! You look amazing and now you have inspired me to ‘just do it’.”
Maddie Azzopardi added: “This is so inspiring to everyone!! You rock that thing girl.”
Overwhelmed by the response she received, Gordon later posted on Facebook to say: “I can tell you right now that my heart is so full due to this.
“Thank you all again, and please remember you are absolutely worthy of the love that you so freely give to others. You are amazing and you are beautiful.”