Fitness star posts side-by-side photos to prove weight is just a number

Kelsey Wells, a fitness star with 289,000 followers on Instagram, is sick of people obsessing over the number on they see on the scale.

And so, she posted three side-by-side pictures of herself as a powerful reminder that weight is not an accurate reflection of a person's fitness level.

In the first photo (on the left), Wells is slim but a bit out of shape, weighing 145 lbs. Next, in the center photo, she lost a ton of weight - coming in at just 122 lbs - but didn't appear to be too fit.

But in the final picture, on the right, Wells weighs 140 lbs, and looks slimmer and more toned than she did in any of the other images.

"You guys. [Please] stop getting hung up on the number on the [stupid] scale!" Wells wrote in her post. "Please stop thinking your weight equals your progress and for the love of everything please stop letting your weight have any affect whatsoever on your self esteem."

Wells explained that she used to let her weight affect her feelings of self worth. She said that when she first started the Bikini Body Guide workout program, she was eight weeks postpartum and weighed 145 lbs.

She had weighed 130 lbs. before getting pregnant, so "based on nothing besides [her] own warped perception," she decided that her goal weight would be 122 lbs.

But since hitting her goal weight, Wells gained 18 lbs. and went up two pants size.

"According to my old self and flawed standards, I would be failing miserably. Thank goodness I finally learned to start measuring my progress by things that matter - strength, ability, endurance, health and happiness," the fitness star wrote.

She said that, despite her weight gain, she has never had more muscle and less body fat than she has now.

"I have never been more comfortable in my own skin than I am now. And if I didn't say #screwthescale long ago, I would have gave up on my journey," Wells said.