It’s Time We Follow Beyonce’s Lead And Get Honest About Our FUPAs

‘How do I get lower abs? How do I get rid of this?’, I asked a personal trainer once, pinching my lower belly fat. ‘You can’t,’ he replied, ‘we all carry fat on our lower stomach, especially women, it’s just where your fat naturally sits’. With that one sentence, my dream of having an Instagram fitness model figure was crushed. And honestly, thank the Lord.

Of course, you can physically get rid of the fat on your lower belly, but that wasn’t his point. His point was to embrace it, because to get rid of it means Beyoncé levels of training that aren’t always realistic for us mortal humans. And actually, it turns out that even Beyoncé is embracing her FUPA, that is, her Fat Upper Pubic Area.

In an interview with Vogue that has hilariously skyrocketed searches for FUPA on Dictionary.com, Beyoncé talked at length about her post-baby body following the birth of twins Rumi and Sir, and how the trauma of her last month of pregnancy and C-section changed her outlook on returning to her typical shape.

‘After the birth of my first child, I believed in the things society said about how my body should look,’ she said, ‘I put pressure on myself to lose all the baby weight in three months and scheduled a small tour to assure I would do it. Looking back, that was crazy’

However, with her second pregnancy, she developed toxemia and was on bed rest for over a month before having an emergency C-section in June last year, so she decided to give herself more time.

‘After the C-section, my core felt different,’ she continued, ‘It had been major surgery. Some of your organs are shifted temporarily, and in rare cases, removed temporarily during delivery. I am not sure everyone understands that. I needed time to heal, to recover. During my recovery, I gave myself self-love and self-care, and I embraced being curvier.

‘I accepted what my body wanted to be. After six months, I started preparing for Coachella. I became vegan temporarily, gave up coffee, alcohol, and all fruit drinks. But I was patient with myself and enjoyed my fuller curves. My kids and husband did, too.’

And now, having performed at Coachella and looked amazing while doing it, she’s still set on embracing her fuller figure. ‘To this day my arms, shoulders, breasts, and thighs are fuller,’ she said, ‘I have a little mommy pouch, and I’m in no rush to get rid of it. I think it’s real. Whenever I’m ready to get a six-pack, I will go into beast zone and work my ass off until I have it. But right now, my little FUPA and I feel like we are meant to be.

While all of us are capable of having FUPA’s, whether we’ve given birth or not, the self-acceptance and love of your body when it goes through such a huge transformation is incredibly important in a society that puts so much pressure on women return to their typical weight post-giving birth.

Further than that, with women pressured to look a certain way at all stages of their life, Beyoncé’s embracing of her FUPA is a positive message for us all. Just as we should be embracing all body-types, all areas of fat on our body, because in reality we all carry fat in different areas and it’s time we we’re honest about that.

In a world of Facetune and Photoshop, there’s no way of knowing whether your favourite social media fitness idols have FUPAs and beyond, but as someone who enjoys regular exercise, tracks macros and has gone through various stages of cutting and bulking, I can tell you that my FUPA is here to stay.

So, love your FUPA, love your body no matter what, because as Beyoncé – and my seemingly genius PT – say, it’s ‘meant to be.'

Click through to see Beyonce's style over the years...