Flip through any fitness magazine and you'll see an endless barrage of perfectly toned, flat tummies. That's exactly why the following story is so incredible. Brooke Birmingham lost a whopping 172 pounds by eating right and working out. At her heaviest, the now 29-year-old from Quad Cities, IL weighed 327 pounds. She tried fad diets and calorie restriction, but it wasn't until she committed to small, manageable goals that the weight started to come off.
One day, Shape magazine approached Brooke. They wanted to include her in their monthly success stories. She was so excited! She obliged, and sent the editors a photo of herself wearing a bikini to accompany the story. That's when things took an unexpected turn. The photo showed loose skin on her belly, a result of her dramatic weight loss.
“My editors were hoping you could send over a different after photo. (You look ah-mazing, of course, but they are looking to include one with a shirt),” a freelancer wrote.
Brooke was furious. “Really? Have you logged on to Shape’s website lately?” she wrote. “You can find MANY women in bikinis on the site.”
A back-and-forth email exchange took place between Brooke and Shape. When Shape wouldn’t let her show her real body — because "fully clothed women was a new policy," Brooke backed out of the feature. She wrote about the experience on her personal blog alongside the rejected photo. Because she held nothing back, her story quickly went viral. Women all over the country came to her defense.
“This is the type of body they should have featured, because it can give people hope,” she wrote. “Hope that they can lose weight healthfully and even if they don’t end up with airbrushed abs of steel, they’re gorgeous and shouldn’t be ashamed of whatever imperfection they believe they have.”
Scroll down to see how Shape responded…
Twenty-something Brooke Birmingham was so excited when Shape magazine reached out to her. They wanted to feature Brooke as a real-life success story.
However, when Brooke sent the magazine this photo, they rejected her.
Brooke lost over 100 pounds by eating right and exercising. It was clear this determined woman wasn't about to keep her story quiet. "If I couldn't have the picture of me in my bikini to go along with my story, then it wasn't MY story," she wrote on her blog.
Her rebuttal went viral.
Brooke defended women of all shapes and sizes, and that perfectly toned tummies and airbrushed bodies are unrealistic representations of everyday women.
Soon, people from all over the country were reading Brooke's personal blog and coming to her defense against Shape magazine.
Women everywhere were inspired by Brooke's confidence, strength, and defiance.
Shape realized it was a big mistake not to run Brooke's story, along with the photo she originally submitted. It was a total victory for women of all ages, and all sizes!
Brooke continues to eat right, exercise, and document her journey — and she continues to inspire her tens of thousands of fans.
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