Lena Dunham shares the truth behind these before-and-after photos

Ever since the TV series Girls catapulted her to global fame, Lena Dunham’s body has sparked no shortage of discourse and column inches - for better or worse.
 
Thanks to her unapologetic writing, on-screen performances and social media presence, the author, actress and director has come to be viewed as a champion for self-love.
 
Dunham’s latest Instagram post is a wonderful example of why.
 
On Wednesday, the Not That Kind of Girl author shared side-by-side photos of herself taken at two different weights, detailing the experiences she had at each of these times.

RELATED: Lena Dunham says we shouldn't be ashamed of taking sick days
 
Positive as 24/7 compliments and magazine covers may sound, Dunham explains there was more going on behind the curtain at the time.

She adds: “Also, sick in the tissue and in the head and subsisting only on small amounts of sugar, tons of caffeine and a purse pharmacy.”
 
One year on, it’s a very different story for Dunham.

“Complimented only by people that matter for reasons that matter, subsisting on a steady flow of fun/healthy snacks and apps and entrees, strong from lifting dogs and spirits,” she adds.
 
Although Dunham views herself as a “body positivity warrior”, she admits to occasionally looking “longingly” at the photo on the left - until she recalls the reality a camera lens can’t capture.
 
“I remember the impossible pain that brought me there and onto my proverbial knees,” she concludes her post. 

When a US magazine praised Dunham’s “slimdown diet” on its cover last year, the Girls star responded with a facetious list of the “tips” she’d followed to lose weight.
 
The rundown included “anxiety disorder and resultant constant nausea”, “an election that reveals the truth depths of American misogyny”, and “a quiet rage that replaces need for food with need for revenge.”
 
See, it’s easy!

Then, with her final tip, Dunham really brought the message home.

“I have no tips I give no tips,” she wrote.

"I don't want to be on this cover cuz it's diametrically opposed to everything I've fought my whole career for and it's not a compliment to me because it's not an achievement."
 
Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.