Mother of six overhears what her husband tells his friends about her stretch marks. She then realizes something.

Sharny Kieser, an Australian fitness blogger, is a mother of six. For years she didn’t dare to slip on a bikini due to the lasting effects the pregnancies had on her body. But one day she overheard her husband Julius talking about her stretch marks to his friends. Sharny made her thoughts known in a post on Instagram:

What is the number one stopping you from getting to a body that you will love? –> Low Self Control? –> Low self esteem? –> Unsupportive Family? –> Long hours at Work? –> Money? –> You’ve got too far to go? –> Genetics? –> Medication? –> Injury? Well, if it’s any of these, then I’ve got news for you. You can do it. Because the one thing that is actually holding you back is stress. Stressing about these things. See, you might not be able to change your lot in life, but you certainly can change the way you deal with it. I can tell you from first hand experience that when you’re at your ideal body, you can eat more than you do now. You CAN eat a whole pizza and burn it off the next day. You CAN eat dessert. You can BINGE eat for a whole weekend and look better on the Monday than you did on the friday. This is true for most fitness people. Look at your favourite instaFIT friend. They post pictures of serious junk food. I’m talking PILES of pancakes, HUGE servings of loaded fries, MASSIVE burgers. Do they look like a fat wreck afterwards? Hell no, most of them say they look better! And here’s why…. They LOVE themselves. Granted, most of them love themselves because of constant barrage of self gratification they get from posting their perfect physiques on social media. But how they come to love themselves is irrelevant, what is relevant is that they DO love themselves. You don’t. But you should. Because even if you’re 200kg overweight, with no friends at all, the simple act of loving yourself will reduce stress. Less stress will mean less cortisol. Less cortisol means less sugar cravings. Less fat storage. A bit of weight will fall off. You’ll love yourself for it. A bit more will fall off. You’ll love yourself for it. A bit more will fall off and someone will notice. You’ll have a fan. Once you have a fan, you’ll be INSPIRED. Inspiration is addictive. And you know what? You INSPIRE someone by LOVING yourself. There may be many factors affecting fat gain, but don’t wait until you’re looking your best to finally love yourself. That’s totally backwards. Love yourself, and you’ll look your best.

A post shared by Sharny and Julius (@sharnyandjulius) on

“I used to not see the point in exercise because my body was covered in stretch marks. ‘What’s the point in having a great body if I will never wear a bikini,’ I’d think. If I was ever invited to the beach or a pool party, I’d always decline. On the odd occasion I couldn’t avoid it, I’d stay inside, helping with the food or the cleaning. I would only wear board shorts and t-shirts. I wished so hard that I could one day wear a bikini.

Then one day I overheard my loving husband explaining to a bunch of his friends why he thought stretch marks were beautiful. They were a sign of being a woman. They are a result of the great love a mother has, that she would scar her own body to bring a child to life… On and on he explained and the more he talked, the more I got it. I had hated myself for the very reasons he loved me. My body wasn’t ruined or disgusting, it had transformed from a selfish girl’s body into a selfless mother’s body, and the scars were a symbol of that transition.

I used to not see the point in exercise because my body was covered in stretch marks. 'what's the point in having a great body if I will never wear a bikini' I'd think. If I was ever invited to the beach or a pool party, I'd always decline. On the odd occasion I couldn't avoid it, I'd stay inside, helping with the food or the cleaning. I would only wear board shorts and t-shirts. I wished so hard that I could one day wear a bikini. Then one day I overheard my loving husband explaining to a bunch of his friends why he thought stretch marks were beautiful. They were a sign of being a woman. They are a result of the great love a mother has, that she would scar her own body to bring a child to life… on and on he explained and the more he talked, the more I got it. I had hated myself for the very reasons he loved me. My body wasn't ruined or disgusting, it had transformed from a selfish girls body into a selfless mothers body and the scars were a symbol of that transition. A daily reminder that I was a mother. I looked at my stretch marks and I felt pride. I felt love. The love of my husband and the love of my children. Each one of them had been nurtured and lived behind those scars for 9 months. I felt pride. I felt love. I felt love for myself. The craziest thing was that when I started to love myself for what I had now, the body I had now, I began to treat myself better. I WANTED to eat healthy. I WANTED to exercise, I WANTED to do the things I loved. Just by changing the way I looked at myself with love and pride instead of hate, I had found the effortless motivation to care for my body. Because of this tiny little shift in mindset, magic happened… I got the body I had always dreamed of. The bikini body that I thought was not ever going to be possible for me after being covered in stretch marks, It has became a reality for me. It started though, with me loving myself first. Being grateful for what I had, not wishing for something better. ?[see comments for more]?

A post shared by Sharny and Julius (@sharnyandjulius) on

A daily reminder that I was a mother. I looked at my stretch marks and I felt pride. I felt love. The love of my husband and the love of my children. Each one of them had been nurtured and lived behind those scars for 9 months. I felt pride. I felt love. I felt love for myself. The craziest thing was that when I started to love myself for what I had now, the body I had now, I began to treat myself better. I WANTED to eat healthy. I WANTED to exercise, I WANTED to do the things I loved.

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