Carys Whittaker 🇬🇧

Inspired by April fools day I had to join in on the ‘social media is fake’ trend. I LOVE this trend and it’s so so needed online. The things we’re flooded with daily on here can be overwhelming. I always try my best to show you guys the clean vs the messy sides of my life as that’s important to me and I hope that comes across🤞🏼the worst thing about social media is that even when you’re doing the best you’ve ever done and feeling the best you’ve ever felt, 5 minutes on the wrong pages or videos can make you feel like a failure in every aspect of your life 😅 Social media is not real life!!!! And never will be. Of course parts of it are real and valuable but almost everything has been edited (I don’t even mean as dramatic as photoshop I just mean even editing clips together for a reel!) everything has been put together in some way to suit the content someone is trying to create. That isn’t always a bad thing, I love creating content! And so much of the content online can be valuable BUT so much of it can be damaging and it’s so important to know that you are NOT looking at someone’s day to day life…. So stop comparing it to yours. (Talking to myself here as well as anyone else who needs that reminder 😅)

Comparisons like this are one of the main reasons I’m happy with my body now, because they remind me that it was never about my body, and never will be, it’s all a mindset. I chose to be happy now because I was never happy with my body back then. I was never small enough, I was never exercising enough or restricting myself enough. I was never enough. I wish I’d given my body the love it deserved back then 🤎 We constantly look back at photos and wish we’d appreciated how we used to look and yet we never do?? We literally always wish and want something else. I got fed up and BORED of the cycle and decided to start just living as me. When I look back at old photos now I try not to do the whole ‘oh I wish I’d appreciated my body then’ because I know I wouldn’t have. I just know my whole world was about my body and all my value in life came from how I looked. So I now look back and feel relieved that I’ve found so much more value in my life. I’m not saying you have to look at yourself now and be in love with your body and I’m not saying you can’t have goals for yourself, but what I am saying is life is pretty exhausting if we can’t appreciate ourselves at different stages, for whatever reason we’re at them. Life has so much to offer us that isn’t about our bodies and we are so worthy and deserving of it all, whatever stage we’re at 🤎

My most asked question when I post photos of our wedding day! A valid question too, because sometimes it can be hard. I’ve put together a reply through this video and I hope it helps anyone who needs to hear this 🤍

The good, the bad and the ugly… this sums up my shopping experience SO well🤣 some things take me from 0 to 100 REAL quick and the next piece takes me down to -100🤣 luckily I couldn’t be more confident in that fact that I am not the problem: my body isn’t the problem, and nor is yours! It’s just finding the pieces that do honour our bodies, whatever shape they are and whatever stage we’re at with them😌

OH MY OH MY…. Dresses designed by women just HIT DIFFERENT (or fit different lol) THESE ARE TOO GOOD!!!!

I had high hopes… yet THIS STILL WENT BETTER THAN EXPECTED 🤣 ad. wow. The lift seamless booty leggings/shorts are such a fave of mine and I really reccomend them for not only a BBL booty lift but also practical performance when it comes to movement and sweating. I wear them constantly and reach for them so much when it comes to weight lighting etc. I wore these new green lift seamless booty shorts to the gym today and when I tell you it was a HOT day and I sweated BUCKETS. My skin was soaking underneath yet I didn’t have sweat patches on the shorts?? I was SHOCKED in the best way!! As always I have my code CARYS10 (ad) which is always live with gymshark. 8 years working together and their products never get old 🤍 also for reference I wear size L here but next time I’m going to order XL as L is fine for an hour gym session but I wore the green shorts today for the whole day and I think XL would be much comfier on my body for sitting/daily stuff!

I love this style of video because it shows the reality of finding cute pieces… Some things work, some things do not work. It’s as simple as that yet we’re so quick to bully ourselves about it. So let’s Strip it back to the facts. Some things work, some things don’t. Yes, Things that work for my body take a lot longer to find now that I’m a size L compared to when I was a size XS. but, my body is not the problem. Wherever you’re at with your body journey, you deserve to wear cute things. When you find the pieces that work and honour your body, the confidence follows. I promise🩷

I was so buzzing when @bouxavenue asked to work together on testing their viral strapless bras!! Ad. WHAT an experience it was!!!…FINALLY a strapless bra that holds the girls UP and IN that you can even have a boogie in🕺 of course it’s @bouxavenue smashing it out of the park AGAIN!! They’re on such a roll right now and going viral for all the right reasons 😌👏🏻 they’ve given me a code CARYS10 for 10% off!! 😍

The PERFECT denim shorts!!! (if I do say so myself😌) launching this Sunday 10am uk time on Ambela.com (@ambelajeans ) ☁️ I think these are our best and comfiest launch yet!! Denim shirts are such a struggle for so many of us and I just know you’re going to love these guys. I cannot WAIT for you to recieve them and wear them for days on end 🥹 sizing is true to size so go with your usual size!☁️✨ I’m wearing size 14 for reference!!

Well this went better than expected… 🥹 I’d say in general, most pieces I try on I just assume won’t work for my body! so I was VERY happy with how many pieces I loved and felt fabulous in from all these!!

aaaand that’s on finding my style again after weight gain😌 I’ll say it again (and again and again) finding my style after going from a size 6 to a size 14/16 was the turning point for me. It changed everything. I was able to express myself through fashion. dress in a way that felt comfortable so I wasn’t sucking my belly in all day or drowning myself in baggy clothes to cover up my body. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE a leggings and hoodie outfit but that is very different to feeling you ONLY belong in leggings and hoodies and nothing else “works for me”… my body was not the problem. Yes outfits take longer to find than they used to. But I promise you, your body belongs in cute outfits. Whatever stage of your journey you’re in right now 🙂‍↔️

After gaining weight, a huge step for me towards feeling confident enough to show off my belly was actually learning how to style myself on days where I struggled with my belly and wanted to cover it up. It made me feel like understood myself and my body more, I felt in control and able to CHOOSE to start showing my belly and wearing tight clothes when I was ready as a part of expressing myself and not caring about what others thought, just doing it for me. To this day I still love styling myself with my belly hidden but also I LOVE wearing tight clothes when I can see my belly and allll my curves in all their glory. I love both. Everyone is on a different journey and you shouldn’t feel guilty for wanting to style yourself either way! This is your body and your journey, as long as you prioritise your happiness and confidence (and comfiness lol) that’s all that matters 😌🙂‍↕️