- I struggled with my post-baby body image, although I lost a lot of weight I had won.
- The acceptance and unconditional love of my partner helped me embrace my new body.
- Health problems, including a back injury, helped me to shift my focus from my weight to my strength.
After I had my son, I was consumed by getting my pre-baby body back. Even after losing 60 out of 80 pounds I had won during my pregnancy before my son became 2, I was still unhappy with my stomach, who apparently bulged and saw through, regardless of which practice or diet I tried. I had never appreciated how flat or effortless my stomach had been before I had my son until I didn’t have it anymore.
My stomach became the source of all my shame and I was convinced that none of me would keep with a body that looked like mine. I never assumed someone who felt less self -conscious about my own observed mistakes until I met the man who eventually became my husband. By the time I met him, my son 6 was 6. He never seemed to be deterred from a part of my body or not to be attracted to me, so one day I told him that I was ashamed of my stomach. He was shocked and said he didn’t care. Soon I started to feel the same.
His acceptance led me to self -love and an inner truth
After that conversation I not only started to feel more comfortable in my own skin, but I actually felt sexy as a whole, instead of most of my body minus my belly. But I was still busy maintaining my mate. My partner who loves me so much helped me to love myself more. We date almost two years before we got married and recently celebrated our third wedding anniversary.
When I really started to embrace myself, I started to note that I still had some unhealthy ideas about my appearance. If my clothes were ever cozy, I panicked. If I only missed one training, I was afraid that I would fall back in weight gain. I thought I could only enjoy unhealthy food if I had worked that day or knew I would do the next day. I saw more clearly that my whole attitude around food and exercise was not rooted in health. My view was that when I wasn’t thin and fit, I became a less valuable person. Once I understood my motives, I was not happy to think of myself in those terms.
New health problems suddenly made it difficult for me to exercise
Although the attraction of my husband on me was the first part of my journey to accept my post-baby body, it was actually health problems that finally changed the way I felt over my body forever. I always thought I had appreciated my health, but it looked a lot like the body I had before I got pregnant. I didn’t really appreciate my health until it was gone.
In the midst of suddenly the start of migraine and gut problems, I would catch myself stressed more stressed because they cannot train instead of concentrating on simply feeling better. When I finally hurt my back so much that it even became difficult, even walking, I realized how much I had taken my body – again.
It has now been years since I tried to feel like before, which was just able to be an active person. My goals training now is just to be able to walk half a mile around my neighborhood, which is far removed from the running I once did.
In the course of these unexpected health problems, I realized that I will never worry again that I am a certain weight again. My obsession has shifted from how my body is formed to return to a life where I can do simple things, such as making my family dinner and then sitting around the table to eat with them without being in pain.
Now I never saw myself worrying about the way my body looks like
I don’t think it should have taken health problems for me to appreciate my body for what it is capable of, such as growing a child and enabling me to take care of my family, but that is what I needed to finally My body to be accepted as it is. The irony of the situation is that by having pushed myself so hard by running, intense training sessions and little to no rest, probably much of what I am going through, or at least ignored important signs.
I know I can’t change the past, but I wish I would have been softer with myself after I had my son, who just turned 11, and chose a slower approach to weight loss through the power of the whole body. As far as my stomach is concerned, I finally didn’t care what it looks like in the mirror. My body spending is now only in my real health and function, and I am confident that I will no longer emphasize my weight.