We don't believe in covering any of our SundayGirl's Natural Beauty, so all photoshoots are Make-Up Free!
"God made you beautiful and unique."
SundayGirl of the week, Michaelyn Robinson went from not having any confidence to finding her inner Goddess!
Sunday: What’s your ethnicity?
Michaelyn: I’m Mixed, my daddy is mixed with black and white and my mama is white.
Sunday: What’s your age?
Michaelyn: I’m 26
Sunday: Growing up did you struggle loving your body?
Michaelyn: I never had a problem with my body, I was very athletic, weighed about 126lbs. I struggled with my acne… not sure if that counts, but that was a huge problem for me when I was "growing up," and still is. The body image part came later on. When I turned 21, literally right after I turned 21, I started on birth control. I have endometriosis and my Gynecologist suggested that we try something other than the "pill." I was never good at remembering to take medicine, so we decided on something called the Nexplanon. It's a birth control implant that stays in your arm for 3 years. Long story short, months after I got the implant I went from a good 126lbs to 145lbs. I went back to my doctor, she told me “it was normal,” she also said, and I'm not kidding “it's relationship weight”….I had just gotten into a new relationship, months went by and I got heavier and heavier, while still working out doing my normal activities. I had gained over 40lbs in less than a year. We did the obvious testing to make sure that my overall health was okay, everything came back normal, but my body was not MY BODY any more.
Sunday: What did you hate most about your body before?
Michaelyn: I hated my thighs, my arms, the stretch marks that developed on my hips going up the sides of my body, and on my stomach. I mean I went from a size 2 to a size 12 in jeans. I had a lot I hated about my body. I didn't want to go shopping because the clothes I would normally wear didn't fit the same. I hated wearing tank tops because I felt like my arms and shoulders look like I had on shoulder pads. All I could think about is "damn," I have a face full of acne and now I'm "fat."
Sunday: How did you learn to love your body and yourself?
Michaelyn: It took FOREVER and I mean years for me to love myself and my body. I’m Catholic and every year for Lent we give something up for 40 days, it's suppose to help us get closer to God. I normally would just give up my favorite chips or cussing. Well one year I decide to actually give up something that I thought would really make a difference in my life, I gave up calling myself ugly and putting myself down. I woke up everyday and looked in the mirror and told myself "You are Beautiful," over and over again until I started to believe it. There was only so much that I could do about my acne and I couldn’t let that be the only reason why I viewed myself as ugly.
Loving my body, well that took time. I wore clothes that were too big to hide the weight that I gained and didn't realize that it only made me look bigger than I actually was. My cousin Gabrielle was the one that actually helped me to really start loving my body. She came over to the house one day and I was trying on clothes and she looked at me and said “what are you doing Michaelyn? why are you wearing that ?" she told me that I needed to embrace my body and to wear clothes that fit to my curves and not hide them. I started buying clothes that were sexier and showed off my waist and hips. I worked out more and changed my whole mindset of thinking. Again, it took me years to actually reset my brain on what beauty actually is but I didn’t stop until I loved every inch of my body including my acne and the scars that came with it.
Sunday: What do you love most about your body, and why?
Michaelyn: The thing I love most about my body is my butt. I think that’s one of the best features on a woman. I love the way it looks in jeans and in dresses, it just adds that extra sexiness to me. I mean who doesn’t want something they can grab onto?
Sunday: How was it shooting with Karlo with no makeup?
Michaelyn: Oh lord! lol, shooting with no makeup on was awesome!! I stopped wearing makeup almost two years ago (other than going out on the weekends or special events) so it wasn’t really hard for me, plus I got to show my cute little freckles that I have all over.
Karlo was just the topping on the cake! He definitely gave me an extra boost of confidence that let him take photos in angles that I'm not use to.
Sunday: How do you keep yourself healthy?
Michaelyn: I walk almost everyday and try to work out at least twice a week, but mostly I pay more attention to what I eat now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m from the south, so I do still tear up some fried food, lol I just make sure I’m not over eating and I keep my portions small.
Sunday: What physical activities make you feel better?
Michaelyn: Walking and running. I love when it's warm outside and I can go hiking by myself or with a friend and jog a couple of miles.
Sunday: What do you typically eat to stay healthy?
Michaelyn: I try to eat more veggies, if I have fried chicken or pork chops I double up on my vegetables. Like I said i'm a southern girl, I can't give up my fried foods.
Sunday: What words of inspiration can you give to a girl struggling to love her body?
Michaelyn: If you can’t love yourself then how do you expect someone else to love you?
I have been both skinny and thick, I have been told I need to eat more and that I needed to cut back. It wasn’t until I stepped back and realized that no matter if I have curves, rolls, no ass or tits that the only opinion that matters is MINE.
Sunday: What’s one thing you wish would change in the world to help present and future generations of women feel more beautiful in their own skin?
Michaelyn: I would remind parents or anyone that raises our future children to change the way we speak to them. Remind them that when you’re a child everything we learn is from them. The way we see ourselves, the way we see others, all comes from what we first learn at home. I think that a huge part of our insecurities comes from not feeling accepted in our parents eyes, well at least that’s where mine came from. Don’t get me wrong I do have loving parents, but me and my brothers had more of a tough love growing up, I feel like if I was reminded that I was beautiful and was told that no matter what anyone else thinks about me, that doesn’t define who I know I am today.
God didn’t make you the way you are to punish you or because he was lazy that day. He made you beautiful and unique. Everyone has something that sets them apart from each other something other people wish they had.
Sunday: Why is it important to feel sexy?
Michaelyn: Why wouldn’t you want to feel sexy? That right there is a confidence everyone should have no matter if your wearing a over sized T-shirt or lingerie. I mean how can you really be comfortable in your own skin if you don’t feel sexy when you look at yourself in the mirror naked? Confidence is sexy.
Sunday: Some people feel taking pictures in underwear is wrong, how does it make you feel when you take photos in a bra and underwear?
Michaelyn: I feel HOT! Like I'm a 10/10...I mean, I used to think it was “wrong,” but then I thought….if that’s wrong then why isn’t taking pictures in a two piece bathing suit wrong?.
Sunday: How has SMV impacted you?
Michaelyn: SundayMorningView has helped me see that there are a lot of other women out there that have the same “problem areas” that most of the women of social media try to hide. The women who are apart of SMV don’t photoshop their flaws, they embrace them! They show you what "reality" is. I freaking flew out to LA to do a photo shoot...in my underwear…with no makeup on, knowing that these photos would not be edited or covered up but for the purpose to flaunt my "beautiFULL" imperfections. I mean that really says it all.
Thank you Michaelyn, Until Next time!
To see more of Michaelyn, please follow her on Instagram @_glenc0c0
