Body Positivity Influencer Emily Jones Defends 170-Pound Loss

Body-positive influencer Emily Jones is standing by the deeply personal path that led to her losing more than 170 pounds over nearly three years.

“If you think this is just about weight loss, then you’ve missed the entire point,” the 36-year-old told her Instagram audience in an emotional post shared Thursday, September 10.

Jones underwent gastric bypass surgery in January 2024 and has openly documented the realities of her recovery, including loose skin and lipedema. The Cleveland Clinic describes lipedema as an abnormal buildup of fat on both sides of the lower body, most commonly the legs, though it can also affect the arms, and notes that it may not respond to diet and exercise.

For her latest post, Jones revisited a video she recorded the evening before her gastric bypass procedure. In the footage, she spoke about the conflicting emotions she felt ahead of surgery, with some of that fear tied to the recent loss of both of her parents just six weeks apart.

“What am I afraid of? Lots of things,” Jones said in the older video. “This is the first time that I will be having any kind of procedure or surgery done without my mum and dad being around.”

The video then moved from tearful scenes of Jones in 2024 to present-day footage of the influencer happily taking a walk in the sunshine.

“I came across this video that I filmed the night before my gastric bypass surgery, talking about how I was feeling and my fears right before this big turning point in my life,” Jones wrote. “It’s wild to watch it back now on the other side of it all. If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know how grief has been a big part of my story since losing both of my parents within 6 weeks of each other, after seeing my mum through her battle with a terminal brain tumour.”

Looking back at the footage, Jones said, has become an important marker in her broader healing process.

“Sometimes the physical is truly a manifestation of what is going on inside, and it was time for me to shake the monkey off my back and start living for ME,” she wrote. “Wish I could give this frightened little girl a big hug and tell her everything is going to be ok. Things will get better, I promise xx.”

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The influencer received many supportive comments from fans who’d followed her body positivity journey over the years.

“Wow. Got me right in my feels. You hung right in there,” one follower wrote to Jones, while another added, “You go girl. Mom & dad would be soooo proud!”

A third follower offered affirmation over Jones’ journey, assuring her, “When you say you wish you could give that girl a hug, you have. Every day when you show up for yourself that’s exactly what you’re doing.”

Jones has previously addressed potential criticism of her weight loss, including showing before-and-after clips of herself wearing a swimsuit.

“It’s so obvious to me that confidence isn’t about being big or being small,” Jones stressed in one Instagram video. “Confidence comes from within and it’s something that grows with time. It grows as you get to know yourself more, do all of the things that you promise yourself you’re gonna do. It’s really got nothing to do with how your body looks.”

Last month, she responded to a male commenter who argued that she had “psychological problems that she needed to heal from” because she had cosmetic surgery to address loose skin. (Jones has confirmed that she had an “extended arm lift, armpit lift and breast lift” in Lithuania to “address the loose skin I was left with after losing” around 170 lbs.)

“I fear there are some things a man simply can’t understand,” she replied. “In all seriousness though, if you can’t understand how a change like this is so much more than ‘just’ plastic surgery, then we’re never going to see eye to eye.”