This definitely resonated! I also found myself feeling like it was easier to accept my body once I had my daughter 5 years ago. I had ongoing struggles with an eating disorder starting at age 11 in 1998, so my weight fluctuated a lot throughout my early teens and in college as well before settling at a spot I was mostly okay with prior to having her. Once I did have her I no longer found myself worrying about my belly being a bit squishy- I just knew I needed energy to keep up with her which I have always had a lot of anyway. My thinner body before her birth struggled to get and stay pregnant (I had an early miscarriage in 2015, and we had to try for 3.5 years before I got pregnant with her), so my mantra when I would get down on my body at all postpartum was to say thank you to my body for giving me my girl.
My daughter loves snuggling with me and always says how comfy she is when we are cuddling- being a little softer and squishier seems just fine to me.
Thank you for sharing that and I am so sorry for your loss. I do wonder how common this post-baby acceptance is. I feel like I was inundated with messages about "bouncing back" and "getting my body back", so there wasn't really any room for anything else. But most of us probably had challenges before that, so it's not like getting back to it was ideal, either.
Oh this brought up so many complicated feelings for me. I want to love my squishy belly but after 2 years of fertility treatments, I find that I don't recognize my body any more. I am fighting to love it but also trying to reclaim my old one? GAH. Thank you for the reminder that our bodies can be comfort items and not just for fashion, feeling sexy etc
The struggle is so real! And how I feel about it changes (for better or worse) depending on where I am hormonally or if I'm well-rested or if I am bloated, and so on and so on. But yes, our bodies are made for so much more (although fashion and feeling sexy can be fun, too!).
This definitely resonated! I also found myself feeling like it was easier to accept my body once I had my daughter 5 years ago. I had ongoing struggles with an eating disorder starting at age 11 in 1998, so my weight fluctuated a lot throughout my early teens and in college as well before settling at a spot I was mostly okay with prior to having her. Once I did have her I no longer found myself worrying about my belly being a bit squishy- I just knew I needed energy to keep up with her which I have always had a lot of anyway. My thinner body before her birth struggled to get and stay pregnant (I had an early miscarriage in 2015, and we had to try for 3.5 years before I got pregnant with her), so my mantra when I would get down on my body at all postpartum was to say thank you to my body for giving me my girl.
My daughter loves snuggling with me and always says how comfy she is when we are cuddling- being a little softer and squishier seems just fine to me.
Thank you for sharing that and I am so sorry for your loss. I do wonder how common this post-baby acceptance is. I feel like I was inundated with messages about "bouncing back" and "getting my body back", so there wasn't really any room for anything else. But most of us probably had challenges before that, so it's not like getting back to it was ideal, either.
Oh this brought up so many complicated feelings for me. I want to love my squishy belly but after 2 years of fertility treatments, I find that I don't recognize my body any more. I am fighting to love it but also trying to reclaim my old one? GAH. Thank you for the reminder that our bodies can be comfort items and not just for fashion, feeling sexy etc
The struggle is so real! And how I feel about it changes (for better or worse) depending on where I am hormonally or if I'm well-rested or if I am bloated, and so on and so on. But yes, our bodies are made for so much more (although fashion and feeling sexy can be fun, too!).