Kate Upton stuns fans in topless ocean shot for body positive shoot: 'Healthy radiant beauty!'

Kate Upton is wowing her followers with a series of body positive seaside snaps for her 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue shoot.

The 25-year-old model – who shot to fame when she was named Rookie of the Year for the publication in 2011 – uploaded a series of snaps from her latest project.

The blonde-haired star shows off her curvy figure in a nude lace bikini in several shots, while others show her wowing in a grey fringed two piece.

One picture that has garnered a lot of attention and 240K likes so far is of her posing topless in a gold sparkly skirt as she stands in the ocean, covering her breasts with her right hand.

Taken in Aruba, Upton captioned the shot: "So excited and grateful to be part of #SISwim 2018! Thanks @si_swimsuitand @mj_day for another amazing year!"

Some of her 5.5m fans rushed to comment on the post, with one person stating: "Very beautiful."

While someone else said: "This is such a healthy radiant beauty!"

A third added: "simply said: you are a fine and excellent lady ."

Upton acknowledged the publication as "empowering" in another post, writing: "So proud to be part of this@si_swimsuit issue full of empowerment, body diversity, and strong, beautiful women."

Models who have found worldwide fame after being pictured for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues include Gigi Hadid, Bar Rafaeli and Irina Shayk.

Upton is one of the great successes to come out of posing for the publication, and shows no sign of slowing down with her latest smouldering shoot.

The star previously revealed her diet and workout secrets to maintain her killer bikini body, claiming her regular workouts begin with some foam rolling, lunges and stretching. She is also known to perform circuit workouts which focus on strength training and exercises with her trainer Ben Bruno.

He previously said: "One of they key tenets of my program is progressive overload. We do slow increases over time, so you build gradually. It's important to always strive to be better, whether that's with more weights or reps or moving to a harder exercise. With Kate we do all three at different points, so we've gradually built up."