SHE is known on social media as a ‘self-love personal trainer’ – the content creator and curve model Sophie Lait, 26, proudly posts uplifting content to her 182k Instagram followers so others can feel good about themselves too.
The social media star often shares body confidence posts to Instagram, showing off her body rolls, back fat and cellulite.
Now, the size 18 influencer has opened up on what it’s like putting yourself on show online.
Sophie describes herself as ‘your raw and honest self-love sis’, is signed by Bridge Models and is a size 16-18 with DD boobs.
Known as @sophthickfitness on Instagram, Sophie, from Devon, has been posting on Instagram for the past few years and while she regularly receives kind comments from those inspired by her posts, it’s not all been rosy for her.
On a daily basis, Sophie receives abusive messages from trolls, criticising her figure – with some even calling her a “whale” and a “hairy gorilla.”
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Sophie told Fabulous: “Most people are supportive but I experience trolling every day.
“I’ve had every comment under the sun – people say I’m a “sl***y b**ch” and a “fat b**ch”.
“They say I should “go to the gym” and tell me that my cellulite is “not natural” and “disgusting.”
“Others call me a “fat whale” and say I should “go back to the ocean.”
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“One woman said “your posts would be awesome if your before was your after” saying that the body that I have now, I need to use that as a before picture and lose weight.
“People will say “you shouldn't wear a tight fitting dress with that belly” and tell me to “put some baggy clothes on.”
“When I post about my body hair, if I share a picture of my armpit that I haven’t shaved in a couple of days, the trolls will say “omg you hairy gorilla.”
“There's a lot of horrible, degrading comments about my body hair. People say I’m “not feminine at all.”
“It’s awful what people will say.
“I used to get a lot of sexual pictures sent to me from trolls and I get a lot of gross, sexual messages in my DMs.
“It would get to the point where I would feel nauseous to go into my DMs. It was awful.
“I love getting in my bikini and getting my belly and my rolls out, so I usually delete the nasty comments.
“I don’t want people to take up capacity in my head and that’s my way of coping. I try not to feed into their attention seeking.”
Sophie is a personal trainer and started her Instagram journey to encourage women to love their bodies, regardless of their size.
She continued: “I’m a personal trainer and whatever body size I have been, I have always encouraged people to love their bodies and to fuel it from the right perspective.
“I was a head trainer at a gym in Christchurch when I travelled Australia and wanted to get more into fitness on social media.
“In 2019 I started posting more about self-love on Instagram. I hadn’t seen anybody online post self-love content and fitness content, it was either or and I wanted to bridge that gap between the two and to allow people to get into fitness whilst accepting their body at the same time.
“I really wanted to show people that you could do both.”
While Sophie has been on a journey with her body confidence, she explained that she has learnt to love the skin she is in.
She explained: “I once hated myself. I was so confident in the enthusiasm and light that I could bring to people’s lives but it was kind of fraudulent as I would go home and talk to myself in the mirror and say ‘you look s**t’, ‘look at you, you’re fat and ugly’, ‘you’re disgusting.’
“So I thought, why am I teaching people to be kind to themselves if I can’t be kind to myself?
“Now I’ve never felt more confident in my life.
“It’s so important to become familiar with your reality – stand in front of the mirror and understand what you are looking at and who you are looking at.
“It’s hard to detach how you feel and the negative things you might say about yourself, but I just tell people to be transparent with yourself and truthful.
“I have come to a place of realisation that not everyday is going to be sunshine and rainbows.
“For me, I don’t put the expectation on myself to love what I look like every day and I have learnt that I am more than what I look like.
“I respect what my body does for me and I respect that it keeps me alive.
“I try not to put the pressure on myself to feel beautiful every day. I don’t expect myself to fill my self-love cup up every day.”
A key message of Sophie’s is that you are not less sexy for having a belly.
Sophie highlighted: “For my entire teenage and adult life I have always believed that my likability was based on how my body looked.
“It depended on how flat my stomach was & how smooth my legs were… but the sadness that was attached to the constant chasing of these things was suffocating.
“We have been led to believe that having a belly means we’ve failed. We haven’t.
“I know now that insecurities stem from a huge variety of things – celebrities, magazines, movies, adverts and so much more.
“What was really sad was that my mum had also been sucked into the toxic realm of diet culture, much like I had, and that made me so so so mad.
“Even when I was at my thinnest, I never felt thin enough.
“We are all trying our best and putting our bodies through more emotional stress but constantly worrying what we look like is not a fun experience.
“I think people think they’ll only be beautiful if they don’t have a belly, and if they have a flat stomach.
“But my belly doesn’t make me any less beautiful, but society has made me feel as though it has.
“Just because you’ve got belly rolls or back fat or cellulite, it doesn't make you any less of a sexy human being.
“There’s no hiding it, I do have a belly, but I’m beautiful.
“I know that just because I’m a PT, doesn't mean I have to have toned abs. I don’t have to look teeny tiny.
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“I’ve started my career as a curve model and I really want to bring change to that industry as well.
“I really want to make waves in this industry and bring this extra inclusivity into this world.”
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