In an image-conscious world where photo touch-ups and filters have become the norm, it was all hail social media’s golden girl Stacey Solomon last week after she shared a refreshingly candid Insta-post on holiday.
Stacey, 34, left more than half a million fans double-tapping on her photo carousel, which featured her wearing a yellow bikini as she spent quality time with her children on the beach. Alongside the snaps, the Sort Your Life Out presenter penned an honest caption detailing how easing up on her gym sessions left her feeling self-conscious ahead of jetting off on a family break.
Now, heat’s insider says that despite Stacey’s nerves about unveiling her bikini body to her 6million followers, she ultimately wants to be someone her daughters and fans can look up to when it comes to body image.
Our source close to the mum of five – who shares son Rex, five, daughter Rose, two, and 18-month-old Belle with husband Joe Swash, and is mum to Zachary, 16, and Leighton, 12, from previous relationships – says, “Stacey just hasn’t had the time or energy to be going to the gym and working out five times a week like she was last year, and she wasn’t feeling as confident. She panicked before going away as her shape has changed since her last holiday, but she didn’t want that to ruin any time away with her family.
“She also knows that lots of women feel like this because bodies change, especially after having babies, and she wants to be a good role model to her daughters. She realises she was a bit obsessed with the gym before and felt she had to be in there working out during all her free time.”
After telling fans that she felt a “weird pressure” and “worried people would notice” that she’s cut down on her gym time, Stacey added, “However, looking back on pics from the beach yesterday, I can see I’m still so beautiful. I look a little different from my last holiday but just as beautiful. Doing my everything to make sure my girls know how beautiful they are and don’t measure their beauty against anyone else. And do the things they love because they make them feel good, not look a certain way.”
The DIY queen embarked on a fitness journey last year, enlisting the help of her personal trainer step-sister Samantha. As well as documenting home workouts in her Pickle Cottage home gym, Stacey also threw herself into Barry’s Bootcamp classes and Pilates sessions. She admitted in February, “I began this little journey basically to get rid of Joe's treadmill and to prove a point and here I am nine months later. Feeling so buzzing like more awake and alive because of a little bit of exercise a day."
As fans bombarded Stacey with compliments about her toned physique, she took to Instagram with another body positivity post. She filmed her figure from different angles and wrote, “You can have abs (some days) and also have hip cushions and a womb! You’re perfect. And I’m sure the bodies you may aspire to, look different, depending on the day/clothes/hormones/angles.”
In spite of her fitness regime’s slowing pace, we’re told that Joe, 42, and her family have been instilling her with confidence to show off her body on Instagram. “Joe is always reassuring her and saying she looks beautiful no matter what, and that she should only be working out if it makes her feel good,” we’re told. “She has always been one for body positivity and she’s proud of her real body and how she looks, no matter what size she is.”
But above all, spending time with her five “pickles” will always be her top priority, as our source says, “Nothing will ever get in the way of her hanging out with her children. She knows she can always get back on her fitness regime when she has the time and energy.”