Michelle Elman previously opened up about being dubbed the “fat friend” for the whole of her life.
Despite struggling with body image issues in the past, she now spends her days as a confidence coach inspiring others to love the skin they’re in.
Taking to Instagram to make an important point about clothing sizing, the 23-year-old shared two side-by-snaps.
The first was a throwback snap from 2012, when Michelle was a size 12, wearing a figure-hugging black dress with lace detail on the front.
The second photo was taken recently in 2017 and Michelle is now a size 20, but proved that dress sizes don’t mean anything by rocking the same look five years later.
She said: “Numbers don’t mean anything.
“I found a dress in my cupboard the other day that I had since I was in sixth form. The dress is a size 14.
“I bought it five years ago when I was a size 12. Now, I'm a size 20. And yet, I still fit it. Which just proves that numbers don’t mean anything.”
Michelle even confessed she thinks she looks better bigger.
She continued: “So are you really going to let a change a dress size dictate your day? Are you really going to let an increase in a number affect your mood?
“Same dress. Still comfortable. Still beautiful. (In fact, I think I look better and happier now).
“A higher dress size doesn't mean: - you are less beautiful - you are less worthy - you are less lovable - you are a worse human - you are a bad person - you are a different person and it doesn't even mean you have a bigger body.
“You could go up a dress size by simply changing stores... (or countries). You can change dress sizes because of the time of the day or simply due to whether you are on your period or not.”
Finally the curve queen offered her advice to other people who get down when their current clothes don’t fit.
Michelle said: “If you look at your cupboard and you find it harder and harder to find something to wear because of a change in clothing size, I have a great solution for you... throw out all clothes that don't fit.
“Looking at your wardrobe shouldn't be something that makes you feel insecure and sad so make sure everything in your wardrobe fits! Numbers don't matter.
“Not the number on the back of your jeans, on the scale or even the number in your bank account. You are not a number.”
Although her post racked up nearly 9,000 likes, she felt like some of the comments kind of missed the mark.
Setting the record straight, Michelle posted another side-by-side snap which pictured her wearing a size 20 dress in both.
She said: “Picking up on a few of the comments from yesterday's post. ‘You look good for a size 20.’
“This is not a compliment. It's like saying that an older woman looks good ‘for her age’. Who says size 20 women can't look good? Who says older women can't look good?
“It's also an insult to all my other size 20 babes. When you say I look good for a size 20, it usually means I look skinnier than a size 20 which still sends the message: thin = good, fat = bad.”
