Instagram Deleted This Woman's Weight Loss Photo
For many people with health issues linked to their excess weight, losing 115 pounds sounds like winning the lottery - a total game-changer warranting a celebration 🎉 ! But instead of applauding Morgan Bartley's massive weight loss, Instagram deleted a bikini-clad photo documenting her transformation, without notifying Morgan or responding to Cosmopolitan.com's request for comment. Because the original post doesn't appear to violate Instagram's community guidelines - it's not like she's naked! - Morgan reposted the original several days ago:
"I share my journey online in hopes of inspiring others to take control of their own lives, so I was devastated and surprised when Instagram deleted this post from my account [in the first place]," said Morgan, (@morganlosing) a 19-year-old college student living in Ventura, California.
The teen has posted many bare-but-innocuous photos throughout her weight loss journey, which has been even more challenging than you'd guess at first glance: Morgan can't remember a time when she didn't struggle with her weight. Then, at age 15, she was diagnosed with ovarian torsion, a painful condition that resulted in the loss of one ovary and menopausal symptoms that led doctors to believe Morgan would never be able to conceive biological children. Although she was a young teen at the time, and parenting was still a far-off fantasy, Morgan grieved for the motherhood she'd never experience, spiraling into a deep depression.
At the height of her depression, she developed binge-eating disorder and gained 70 pounds as a result. "I felt as if my body had failed me, and that I had no control of what was happening with my life," she said. "Bingeing was the one thing I could control, it was my escape."
By the age of 17, as Morgan's weight ballooned to 300 pounds, something finally clicked: Sure, there were things she couldn't control, like her fertility. But not all was lost. "I decided to take back control of my body and save my own life," she says. So, after years of trying various diets, she opted into a weight loss surgery to remove 80 percent of her stomach, a tool designed to help patients eat smaller portions and lose weight.
While it took work to change her habits, which now include eating a healthy, balanced diet, frequent weightlifting and cardio, and counseling to get to the real root of her binge-eating disorder, Morgan is now down 115 pounds and damn proud of her progress.
At least she was proud until she'd found out that Instagram had removed her bikini photos. "Having my vulnerability in that initial post overlooked and rejected was embarrassing and hurtful," she says. "I questioned my own transformation, my own body."
Morgan may never know why Instagram removed her post and who reported it, if that was the trigger. But she's not about to let that keep her down. "I've worked relentlessly to accomplish what I have, and I refuse to let anyone take that from me," she says.
While Morgan hopes to drop another 30 pounds, and reach her goal weight of 140 pounds, she's doing her best to avoid obsessing over the numbers on the scale. Instead, her new goal is to work on her mental health and nourish her body with nutritious foods, particularly now that doctors think improvements in her health could be reviving her fertility. Morgan says a recent blood test suggests her one remaining, severely damaged ovary is showing signs of functioning against all odds. She's undergoing egg retrieval to freeze her eggs for later on, just in case. And now that Morgan's repost has racked up more than 17,000 likes and counting, it's clear her followers are rooting for her.
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