Lauretta Johnnie, a plus-size fitness coach, is like any other trainer: She motivates her clients, pushes them to work their hardest, and sweats it out herself.

But Johnnie became a personal trainer because that's exactly what she couldn't find in the fitness world for herself as a size-22 woman: equal treatment with smaller sized clients and an atmosphere that felt inclusive. In an interview with Refinery29, the founder of UK-based Full Figured Fitness explained why it was so important for her to offer fitness options to other women who've felt excluded from exercise because of their weight.

"I wanted to qualify [as a personal trainer] because I couldn’t find an instructor to train me the way I wanted to be trained," Johnnie told Refinery29. Johnnie knows firsthand that it can be particularly intimidating for plus-size people to start working out, and the fitness world often doesn't do much to make it feel welcoming.

Johnnie recalled when she first went to the gym at her heaviest, and she couldn't get through the turnstile in the lobby. (She started getting active to take care of her health and address issues with mobility and walking, according to an interview with BBC News.) She also notes that small bathroom stalls and communal changing rooms are problems for heavier women at the gym.

Instructors in group fitness classes also often give different modifications specifically to plus-size women (rather than the whole class), she says, assuming that they're unable to keep up—and that can feel incredibly condescending.

To be taken seriously, Johnnie decided to create her own safe space for herself and other women, regardless of shape or fitness level. Her goal isn't focused on weight-loss: She promotes self-love, positive and sustainable lifestyle changes, and understanding what it means to take care of your health at any size.

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Most of the response to Full Figured Fitness has been positive, but the negative comments highlight an incredibly judgmental but pervasive perspective on plus-size people working out. "I once saw a comment saying, 'This is promoting obesity.' I am not sure how encouraging overweight and obese people to exercise is promoting obesity," Johnnie told Refinery29. "Surely it’s the opposite?"

To continue to challenge this fat-shaming, Johnnie is creating conversation around what it means to be inclusive of plus-size people at the gym and beyond.

More than 60 percent of U.K. residents are overweight or obese, "But the images in gyms or advertising fitness clothing are of slim women or muscular men; likewise, the conversations berate overweight people into weight loss. Full Figured Fitness is about challenging the stereotypes of fitness and encouraging plus-size people to share their stories and create understanding and helping people get fitter," Johnnie says.

As a plus-size fitness coach, Johnnie is an amazing example of what health at every size really means, and how body positivity isn't dependent on what the scale says. "For me, body positivity means looking after your body, feeling confident, being healthy, being fit, being proud of who you are," Johnnie said in a video for Ebay UK in September 2016. What body positivity doesn't mean? Being a certain weight.

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