Sophie Allen shared two very different pictures of her bum. Then it went viral (for all the right reasons).

The other week, Sophie Allen shared two side by side pictures of her bum. Very quickly, the personal trainer’s Instagram post had gone viral, racking up over 20,000 likes.

But unlike other stories that start like this, this one happened for all the right reasons.

Allen was determined to show the reality behind the filtered world of “before and afters” that populate social media.

UNFILTERED AF**** Just keepin’ it real with y’all #ihavecellulitetoo and it appears when I squeeze my butt & disappears with the simple act of slightly tilting my hips out! ????????????✨. Don’t ever let instagram take away from your achievements, cause there’s a lot of editing, tilting, posing, angles, lighting and all the rest going on. We alll do it ???????? just don’t beat yourself up if you feel like you see all these celluliteless peeps out there ????. We have to embrace and love our bodies as they are, whilst working towards our healthiest, strongest selves ???????? #buttcomparison #alwaysreal #honestyhour

A post shared by Sophie Allen (@sophactivelife) on Aug 15, 2017 at 4:23am PDT

“UNFILTERED AF**** Just keepin’ it real with y’all #ihavecellulitetoo and it appears when I squeeze my butt & disappears with the simple act of slightly tilting my hips out!,” she captioned the cellulite-positive snap.

“Don’t ever let Instagram take away from your achievements, because there’s a lot of editing, tilting, posing, angles, lighting and all the rest going on. We all do it.

“Just don’t beat yourself up if you feel like you see all these celluliteless peeps out there. We have to embrace and love our bodies as they are, whilst working towards our healthiest, strongest selves #buttcomparison #alwaysreal #honestyhour.”

“I love being real with my followers, and I’d been asked a few times about cellulite and how to get rid of it – I thought it was the perfect opportunity to share that I didn’t actually get rid of cellulite, and even when you’re fit, strong and healthy, you can still have cellulite among other features deemed ugly or undesirable by so many,” she told Mamamia.

Her followers quickly responded to her honest pictures, praising the nutrition student for sharing.

The Mamamia Out Loud hosts argue about the popular saying ‘Summer bodies are made in winter!’ on the latest episode of Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues below… 

“I absolutely needed this today. Thank you for posting this. I’ve been struggling heavily with my body the past few weeks even going to the gym and eating religiously.. very thankful you posted this,” commented one, while another added, “Love this! It’s so important for us woman to see real thing. Brave and real!”

Allen, who has over 150,000 followers on Instagram, is the latest health and fitness personality to join the growing trend of ‘realistic’ before and afters, exposing the tips and tricks many use to present a filtered version of their bodies online.

She says even she can get caught up in it.

Dutch blogger and fitness model Imre Çeçen also shares Instagram versus reality images to her 350,000 followers.

‼️DIFFERENT KIND OF “KEEP IT REAL”‼️ I know some people are all done with the “keep it real” pictures so I thought I’d try a new one???? I find this one kinda hilarious????chilling by the pool instagram vs real life???? . Anyone familiar with the concept of having all “normal” legs when you’re standing but as soon as you sit down they transform into huge piles of meat????????? Why is it that those 2 sticks we use to walk expand to the size of Texas whenever they touch a chair????? . This is the most NORMAL thing ever yet us girls seem to be so self conscious about it???? Hello! Your legs are being pushed against a surface, they are supposed to expand! This doesn’t mean you’re fat???????? Even muscle will just look like a huge shapeless pile of meat when there’s no flexing involved???? If you don’t want your legs to expand maybe invest in stone legs!⛰⛏ I’d choose marble ones???????????? . We’ve just lost touch with reality because on the internet all we see are those freaking hot dog legs???? I am guilty of posting those too! Yet even I wondered on my last vacay why my legs were so “big” when I sat down. ???? . Thought I’d take a good comparison pic and I’m pretty sure I’ve got a hernia now???? Creating that thighgap & skinny legs feel was real hard???? I had to arch my back like crazy, hold my legs up (serious ab work was involved) and had to sit on the edge of the pool which caused me to almost fall. Both my camera & I would have drowned in the sadness of insta perfection (I would survive the water though, I can swim!????????) To people who do sit like this in real life; I admire your core strenght & willpower! . Yep, that’s the truth behind poolside hotdog pics. Truth be told I’d much rather sit like that right pic whilst enjoying an actual hotdog???? What is your fave poolside snack? Kinda wanted to hold a piece of watermelon whilst taking this but it turns out that’s only for advanced instagram posing???? I couldn’t hold myself up, flex them abs, hold a watermelon & take pics at the same time???? Guess I better start practicing for my next vacay!???????? . Ps. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way my legs look in the pic on the right. Just showing you the difference! ???? vs ???? = both yummy????????

A post shared by Imre Çeçen ???????????????? imrececen.com (@imrececen) on Jun 4, 2017 at 1:18am PDT

“Anyone familiar with the concept of having all ‘normal’ legs when you’re standing but as soon as you sit down they transform into huge piles of meat? Why is it that those two sticks we use to walk expand to the size of Texas whenever they touch a chair?” she wrote.

This reality check is something Mamamia Co-Founder Mia Freedman is also passionate about, with her #ConfrontingStomach posts among her most popular.

Finnish blogger Sara is also earning a reputation for her body positive “before and after” shots.

Flat tummy vs food baby ???????????? I was requested to do this so I did it!! ???? In both photos I’m posing but my tummy is not flexed. I usually have a “flat tummy” in the morning but the second I eat boom it’s gone and by night I can look like I’m pregnant. ????????‍♀️ I honestly still feel a bit strange about how big my tummy expands to at the end of the day sometimes, but I’m just going to post it because I’m sure there’s people out there like this too ☺️ All bodies look different from morning to night and your weight will fluctuate throughout the day SO MUCH. It’s completely normal!! All photos I used to post on Instagram during my fitness phase were taken in the morning, or after a workout so I would never look like that throughout the rest of the day! So please don’t worry about these things! Don’t stress out constantly about how you look compared to other people because there’s so much more to life than constantly worrying about how you look at all times. ????☀️ PS I only look tanner on the right due to the weird yellow/orange lighting in my apartment ???? —————————————— . . . #foodbaby #screwthescale #effyourbeautystandards #bodypositivity #selflove #youareworthy #bekindtoyourself #positivemindset #iamenough #loveyourselfalways #eatinggood

A post shared by Sara Puhto (@saggysara) on Aug 10, 2017 at 3:00am PDT

Her latest shows two pictures taken just half an hour apart after eating breakfast.

“All bodies look different from morning to night and your weight will fluctuate throughout the day SO MUCH. It’s completely normal!!,” she wrote.

“All photos I used to post on Instagram during my fitness phase were taken in the morning, or after a workout so I would never look like that throughout the rest of the day so please don’t worry about these things.”

Studies have shown social media has quickly taken over from magazines and adverts as serious influencers over the way we view and feel about our body and appearance. Overwhelmingly, that influence has been negative.

As more and more carefully curated images being presented as the “norm”, images like the above are important and refreshing to remind us that no two bodies are the same, nor is everything you see on Instagram as it seems.

Given the strong link between body dissatisfaction and the development of eating disorders, and the growing number of carefully curated images being presented as the “norm”, images like the above are important and refreshing to remind us that no two bodies are the same, nor is everything you see on Instagram as it seems.

Allen says she hopes her images makes people realise that “being healthy and fit looks different on everybody”.

Performing my magic trick of where did the fat go? ???????? a magician never reveals their tricks.. so lucky I'm not a magician! ????✨. A lot of people store a lot of their fat around their stomach (hi ????????). There used to be a lot more there – I managed to reduce this by combining diet & exercise – sadly we can't target where we lose fat from ????‍♀️????the bod chooses this! Ya know what helps? And why you might see flat stomachs all over instagram? High waisted pants ????love #keepinitreal with y'all, lil belly hangin' out and all! ???????????? can't wait to see how keto goes at reducing some of the bloat too ☀️☀️☀️

A post shared by Sophie Allen (@sophactivelife) on Aug 12, 2017 at 6:07am PDT

“I train hard five to six times a week, eat super clean, get enough sleep and take care of myself, but I still have cellulite, stomach rolls and bloat etc,” she says.

For more body positive content, click here.