Mom of three encourages other women to flaunt stretch marks, 'permanently flabby' post-baby bodies

A mother of three posed confidently in a bikini while on vacation with her family, posted it to Facebook and the rest is viral history.

It was mostly Rachel Hollis’ encouraging caption that struck a response in other moms.

“I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that's permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and I wear a bikini,” she wrote in a post that now has almost 400,000 likes.

“My belly button is saggy... (which is something I didn't even know was possible before!!) and I wear a bikini. I wear a bikini because I'm proud of this body and every mark on it. Those marks prove that I was blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy means I worked hard to lose what weight I could,” she continued.

Over 12,000 people responded to Hollis’ powerful statement, mostly thanking her for empowering them to feel better about their own bodies.

Hollis, 32, was on vacation in Cancun with her husband and children; aged 8, 6 and 2.

“It touches my heart that people are having this reaction to it,” she told Today.com.

The photo was taken just a week after she ran her first marathon after training for six months. “My body is never going to be smaller than it is right now, so if there’s ever time to show off your belly, this is probably it,” she explained of why she posted it.

She concluded in the post, “I wear a bikini because the only man who's opinion matters knows what I went through to look this way. That same man says he's never seen anything sexier than my body, marks and all. They aren't scars ladies, they're stripes and you've earned them. Flaunt that body with pride!”

image via Facebook from The Chic Site

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