Although each woman is differently affected by her menstrual cycle, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who says she doesn't experience any sort of discomfort both before and during her period.
For many women, one of these unpleasant consequences is bloating.
Your stomach feels swollen and hard, you may feel puffy all over — it's not pleasant.
Period bloat is completely normal and occurs due to hormonal changes which result in water retention, however, it's not something many people talk about publicly.
For this reason, influencers who do show the reality of how their bodies change around their periods are being praised by their followers.
When personal trainer Courtney Pruce, for example, posted on her Instagram story that she was feeling "fluffy and swollen" due to her period, she received so many messages that she had to delete the post as her inbox was so overwhelmed.
"The general theme of the messages I received were all much of the same; lots of women sharing their past or repeated experience with getting the same physical affects pre-period," she told Insider.
Equally, London-based fitness influencer Maeve Madden recently shared two side-by-side images taken just a few days apart to show how much she bloats around her period, and she was wowed by how much it resonated.
Madden told Insider that the lead-up to her period is "chaos, physically and mentally, for at least a week."
She said that her bloat was particularly bad due to the extra stress of being under lockdown.
"I often talk about my period and the effects, especially not to feel guilty when taking time off to rest the body," she said.
"But this month was different, with the stress of COVID-19 there has been a huge effect on the body hormone balance, resulting in delayed, irregular, and heavy periods. This month for me I was way more anxious, swollen, and emotional than before, and I knew other women could relate to this."
Madden explained that she received an influx of direct messages in response to the post, but actually not as many public comments as she'd expected, which she found sad.
"In 2020, is speaking openly about your period still a taboo subject? It's something women have had since the dawn of time ... It blows my mind," she said.
Madden's advice for women is to "track your cycle, know when it's coming, understand your body, and listen to how you're feeling.
"When someone tells you, 'Oh just drink water to debloat,' tell them where to go. Every body is different. I generally lead a healthy balanced lifestyle, and it happens to us all.
"If you know it's coming you can prepare yourself for it, although every month I still have a meltdown and want to quit my job."
Here are 10 influencers showing the reality of period bloat.
Read the original article on Insider