Jillian Michaels shares rare photo of herself as overweight teenager days after Lizzo controversy

On Wednesday, Jillian Michaels shared a rare throwback photo of herself to Instagram, which has inspired countless fans to chime in with their own weight loss journeys.

Taken 31 years ago, the snapshot shows Michaels as an overweight teenager, posing on a couch. According to her caption, it was taken when she was 14 and weighed 175 pounds.

"If I can do it - anyone can," she added, asking her followers to respond with their own motivating stories.

The post comes days after Michaels was criticized for her comments on Lizzo's body size, with many fans accusing her of body shaming. In an interview with Buzzfeed News last week, she talked about the "Good as Hell" singer's weight, asking "Why are we celebrating her body?"

She said:

"Why does it matter? Why aren't we celebrating her music? ‘Cause it isn't going to be awesome if she gets diabetes," Michaels shared. "I'm just being honest. I love her music, my kid loves her music, but there's never a moment when I'm like, ‘I'm so glad she's overweight.' Why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?"

Michaels followed up the backlash from the interview with a social media post on the importance of health discussing the complications obesity brings:

"As I've stated repeatedly, we are all beautiful, worthy and equally deserving. I also feel strongly that we love ourselves enough to acknowledge there are serious health consequences that come with obesity—heart disease, diabetes, cancer to name only a few. I would never wish these for ANYONE and I would hope we prioritize our health because we LOVE ourselves and our bodies."

She then took to Extra on Monday to talk about the importance of not glorifying obesity.

“Unfortunately a human being was attached to a case that I was making. I wish that I would have responded that I don’t celebrate anyone being overweight," the mom-of-two explained.

"The world has become so PC that we’ve gone so far to glamorize obesity," she said. “This is where things can become unsafe, that we’re denying the reality of certain health ramifications.”