Meet Hayley Madigan, the body positive fitness influencer showing that even the fittest, strongest bodies have cellulite too
- Hayley Madigan is a British trainer and fitness influencer who posts side-by-side images showing how different our bodies can look in different lighting, outfits, and angles.
- Madigan, 30, told Insider that she was nervous to share her "flaws" like cellulite at first.
- In her 20s, Madigan started bodybuilding which then led to an unhealthy obsession with staying lean by over-training and under-eating, and this caused her to lose her periods.
- Madigan now hopes to inspire others to recover from disordered eating, get strong, and love their bodies from all angles.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
There are fitness influencers who would have you believe that their bodies are always perfectly taut and toned, with not so much as a dimple, let alone any flesh that wobbles.
Then there are fitness influencers showing the truth — that yes, even strong, healthy, athletic people who work out regularly and can in some photos appear to have "perfect" bodies also have cellulite and wobbly bits.
One of the said influencers leading the charge is Hayley Madigan, who's built up an 85,000 strong following for lifting the veil on the side of fitness bodies that many others decline to show.
Now an online trainer specializing in female health and head coach at Together Fitness, Madigan used to suffer from disordered eating and an "obsession" with staying lean, but she's since developed a much healthier relationship with food, fitness, and her body, and uses her platform to help others do the same.
Madigan, who's based in Portsmouth, UK, spoke to Insider about her journey to loving her body, why she thinks it's so important to show the parts that many people consider "flaws," and the problem with a lot of fitness content on Instagram.
A bodybuilding show led to disordered eating
An active and "naturally skinny" child, Madigan told Insider she was bullied as a teenager for being so thin, so she started working out with her dad at home to build some muscle.
"From that moment on I fell in love with weight training and trained a few times a week, it made me feel amazing!" she said.
And this passion transitioned into a degree in sports and exercise science, becoming a qualified personal trainer and then a high school PE teacher.
But after a bad break-up, Madigan wanted a new focus, so decided to enter a bodybuilding show on the recommendation of a trainer at her gym. Even though it was all-natural and drug-tested, this turned out to be the start of Madigan's problems.
"Fast forward an intense 12-week prep, I stood on stage and loved every second," she said. "Much to my amazement I won, and then continued to win three more shows in a row and become a WNBF [World Natural Bodybuilding Federation] Pro after winning the amateur's world show in America in 2015."
It was only when she looked back afterward that Madigan realized she'd "picked up some very bad eating habits and become obsessed with tracking food and training twice a day."
She continued: "Because eating a certain way and training often led me to winning Pro status, I felt like I had to stay in shape 24/7, all year round. I wouldn't let myself put weight on and couldn't bear people thinking 'I'd let myself go' after competing."
And so she maintained an incredibly lean physique through an unhealthy obsession for three years: "I had an extremely bad relationship with food and I was obsessed with staying lean," she said.
The desire to get her period back ultimately led to Madigan's recovery
Maintaining such a low body fat percentage led to Madigan developing amenorrhoea (lack of periods).
"During this time I didn't have a period, because of the stress (physical and mental) that I had put my body through," she said.
"When your body experiences low energy availability (usually from low calories and excess exercising) your hypothalamus in your brain stops your body from signaling the release of your hormones and this stops our menstrual cycle."
Over-training and under-eating meant Madigan didn't have a menstrual cycle for three years. "In order to have a six-pack, my body was in a complete state of stress which meant my cycle stopped," she said.
The amenorrhoea was ultimately what finally made Madigan realize that her health was suffering.
"I wanted to regain my cycle, and I knew from studying this that I had to put fat on, as body fat is vital for female health," she said.
As anyone who has recovered from an eating disorder will be able to attest, the journey has its ups and downs.
"What helped was having supportive people around me, deleting [calorie tracking app] MyFitnessPal, and changing my training goal to be stronger, with more performance-based — instead of purely aesthetic — goals," Madigan said.
She started eating foods that she'd previously restricted, ate out in restaurants where she couldn't track the calories, and reduced her cardio to simply a daily walk.
"I put weight on because I needed to, but I also still felt strong, fit, and sexy because I gained more curves that I enjoyed having," Madigan said.
"My butt got bigger which is always a bonus and I was feeling really confident in my own body because my strength from the gym translated into mental strength too."
And now Madigan is helping others by sharing what she's learned.
"Talking about this journey on social media and now helping coach other women through the same journey is the most fulfilling job I could ask for," she said.
"Getting ladies their cycles back so they can get pregnant is such a blessing and I'm so glad I am able to help women in this way."
Madigan uses comparison images to help encourage others to put their health first
What makes Madigan's Instagram account so popular is the all-encompassing range of topics she discusses, including period bloat, her weight gain, and "Instagram vs reality."
She first started posting comparison images two years ago as a way to talk about her recovery from amenorrhoea and teach other women "that putting on body fat is vital for my health."
Initially, Madigan started posting about her recovery as a way to help her accept her larger, healthier body, but she said she was "astonished" by the size of the response she received from women who could relate.
So she decided to talk about it more.
"I wanted to help other women make the transition to put their health first over their aesthetics," Madigan said.
And she soon began posting "Instagram vs reality" images too, encouraging people not to think that how a person's body looks in one photo is how it looks all the time.
"When I was an in-person personal trainer, my clients would never believe that I had cellulite because from the outside I looked toned and fit," she said. "But I never wore shorts even in the summer months because I was self-conscious of my legs.
"When I used to tell my clients I had cellulite in my lower body they would feel better about themselves, so I wanted to translate this across to my followers too."
Madigan now proudly posts side-by-side images showing how simple things like lighting, posture, and camera angle can make a person's body look completely different.
Madigan was nervous to show her 'flaws' at first
While she was nervous at first to post images showing the parts of her body many of us are conditioned to think of as flaws, the response she received made it worth it.
"Sometimes when I might be a little unsure on a post I send it to my best friend whose usual response is 'YAS AMAZING,'" Madigan said.
"I think every single person needs a best friend to big them up, support them, and have their backs when they need it.
"But I don't feel nervous to show any imperfections or 'flaws' because I think confidence is more attractive than anything and we all need to try to be as self-confident as possible."
Madigan said the vast majority of the responses she receives to her posts are positive and she finds it incredibly rewarding to be "able to help a woman have a better day and outlook on life from one small Instagram post."
And her following has actually grown "quite a lot" over the lockdown period.
Of course, this being the internet, Madigan receives some negativity too, but tries not to let it upset her.
"I think I used to struggle a lot more with this, but I try to rise above it especially when it's from people I don't know," Madigan said.
Madigan's refreshing, balanced approach to fitness resonates with her followers
Unlike some fitness and body positivity influencers, Madigan is neither anti fat loss or weight gain.
"People think fitness accounts just share fitness content and purely talk about how to lose fat and 'tone' up, but that's not what my page is about," she said.
"On the one hand, I help women feel amazing by dropping body fat to become healthy and help them become more confident by lifting weights and becoming strong.
"And then on the other hand, I support vital weight gain advice for health and hormonal reasons.
"For the last two years I have talked about the importance of weight gain for women suffering with disordered eating and/or over training which has led them to losing their periods, and I want to make sure women who struggle with healthy weight gain are inspired by my posts so they feel like they can achieve this optimal health."
In the often all or nothing, black and white, clear-cut world of social media, it's a refreshing outlook to promote.
Instagram can be triggering
Madigan knows as well as the next person how damaging Instagram can be if you don't curate your feed, so she said she's stopped spending too much time looking at what other people are posting.
Instead she concentrates on what she enjoys sharing and the educational information she believes people need to hear.
"I think it's a dangerous game when you get sucked into the fitness industry on Instagram as it's full of extreme views, extreme diets, and a lot of triggering posts," Madigan said.
"I no longer follow many bikini competitors or bodybuilders because I find it triggering for myself and my recovery — seeing women extremely lean is quite hard for me so I try not to follow anyone in that part of the fitness industry."
Madigan also takes umbrage with the extreme weight loss, diet, and detox products many influencers promote, explaining that they don't teach people anything about nutrition and are never sustainable due to their "quick fix" nature.
Madigan aims to empower people to accept their bodies from all angles
Through her Instagram, Madigan hopes to support "every single person struggling with body image, disordered eating, body confidence, self esteem, and gaining weight healthily."
She also wants to encourage people to accept their bodies in all different lights, angles, clothing, and pictures.
"I know how different our bodies can look within a few seconds," Madigan said.
"We can go from looking and feeling amazing to then suddenly catching a glimpse of ourselves in worse lighting and thinking, 'Oh my goodness, do I actually look like that?' and then losing all of the self-confidence we just had.
"I want people to accept themselves in all poses, positions, and angles, realize we are beautiful no matter what, and know that our bodies are incredible with what they do day in, day out."
Read more:
8 influencers whose side-by-side photos prove Instagram isn't real life
Read the original article on Insider
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