Vicky Pattison is known for her frank and honest Instagram posts revealing the reality behind Instagram perfect images.
And the reality star has been applauded for sharing before and after snaps showing the difference that her period makes to her body.
The former Geordie Shore star, who won I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2015, urged he followers to champion their 'period belly' and 'embrace the change.'
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Vicky, 34, posted side-by-side pictures of herself in her underwear taken just a couple of days apart and said 'we need to stop beating ourselves up for every pound gained.'
"This is not a transformation pic, not a before and after weight loss pic, there's no miracle product I'm pushing. These pics were taken a couple of days apart," she explained.
"The only difference? I was on my period on the picture on the leftand not on my period in the picture on the right. (Oh and I've got a bit of slap on on the right)."
Vicky continued: "Throughout the course of our lives our bodies are going to change- whether that be through puberty, or through illness, if we're blessed enough we carry children or maybe our bodies change because we go through a global pandemic and gain 10 pound of banana bread round our midriffs - so much change, all the time."
She asked: "Why are we still so cruel to ourselves and our changing bodies? We need to be more accepting of life's ebbs and flows and our body's evolution.
"We need to stop beating ourselves up for every pound gained or every bit of muscle definition lost. But that's easier said than done isn't it?"
Vicky told her fans that, as someone who has 'actively hated' their body for years, struggled with 'disordered eating', weaponised exercise and believed that their 'happiness was intrinsically linked to a number on a scale', she's aware that accepting change and loving the skin you're in can be difficult.
She added: "But I look at these pictures and you know - the girl on the right is no more successful, kind, bright or funny than the girl on the left.
"Her boyfriend doesn't love her more, she isn't happier (I mean she's less of a cow but that's the hormones ) She's the same."
Vicky says that she's realised since reaching her 30s that 'that life is for living.'
"It took me til my 30's to realise that there is so much more to life than having a thigh gap, a perfectly flat stomach or being a size 6," she said.
"Like cheese for example, or gin or laughing with your girls over cocktails or cuddling up with your fella and a Chinese!
"I realised a while back that life is for living- not to constantly be in pursuit of some unrealistic aesthetic."
She signed off by saying: "I urge you all to stop forcing your body to be something it doesn't want to be, stop punishing it- instead be proud of everything it has got you through, acknowledge its changes and celebrate them- wear your scars proudly, embrace your mum tum, champion your period belly and just embrace the change.
"You are so much more than a clothes size or number on a scale."
Hollyoaks and former Coronation Street actress Katie McGlynn replied with a celebratory raising hands emoji.
melissaelse1 replied: "Completely agree! Why has it took me until 32 to realise all of these things."
And nelisiwe_bee_dee told her: "This post was deffo much needed by may of us women."
