Instagram is filled with inspiring before-and-after weight loss selfies from celebrities and casual users alike ' but are they real?

Fitness Instagrammer @plankingforpizza showed how misleading they can be with an impressive before-and-after picture where she appears taller and leaner with visible abs in the 'after.' But she actually took the photos just 30 seconds apart.

"These pics were taken second apart this morning," she writes. "On the left my posture is poor, I'm pushing my belly out as far as possible, I adjusted my bottoms to show my gross, unsightly and horrid love Common Projects Shoes handles."

"On the right I'm standing straight and comfortably. I'm lightly flexing and I've adjusted my bottoms to hide my love handles. I'm thankful for bikini bottoms that now fit well and hide these but I'm also trying to show that they still exist quite a bit and that Common Projects Shoes Sale not everything we see meets the eye here on social media."

"You can show you best angles and hide your flaws but at the end of the day what we chose to showcase is a reflection of ourselves."

Inspired by her honesty, the hashtag #30SecondTransformation took off on Instagram, with users posting their own misleading before-and-afters in the name of body positivity.

"There are just 30 seconds between these photos and some adjusting of my shorts!" writes one Instagrammer. "I scroll through so many inspirational pictures of skinny and fit girls who are showing their best photos, it shouldn't but sometimes it gets me down about my own progress."

And the hashtag trend is inspiring many weight loss Instagrammers to be more honest going forward.

"I've decided that in the rest of my pictures I post on my account I will always pose with my feet together, as it will show me the more truthful progress I'm making," adds another.