You know how you look at a picture of you pre-baby in a bikini and think “Wow, I remember thinking I was fat on that vacation”…LOL I’ve always had the illusion of thinking I am bigger than I really am, so I was pretty nervous to see my body postpartum.
I had to coach myself a lot on this topic. What does that mean? It means I had to prepare my brain for the thoughts that were going to creep in, and consciously decide what I wanted to think instead.
I sat down with my journal and wrote down all of the “bad body thoughts”, then went back through and wrote down the opposite of that thought which would ideally be more positive.
This particular coaching tool wasn’t working for me, so I thought about the word I had been working on my entire pregnancy – acceptance.
I began writing down how I could simply accept my body for what it will be. That ended with a question that turned out to be the best thought EVER because each time the negative self talk creeped in, I would just remind myself of this one question.
What is my priority right now?
Was my priority to get skinny, or was it to accept the change…accept the postpartum mom bod…accept the pooch…?
I had to dig deep for the answer that felt best at that time. As badly as I wanted to get my rather toned body back, (because it turns out, my body was actually looking pretty fit in that pre-baby bikini pic from vacation), it didn’t feel like a priority in this season of life. I knew the day would come when it did, so I just continued on with my postpartum journey.
What did that look like? Let’s just say, there were no “bounce back” photos of me 10 days postpartum vs 100 days postpartum. If anything, I was heavier 100 days postpartum because I was one hungry mama bear.
My breastfeeding journey was different from my neighbor whose weight “just fell off” while breastfeeding. I was constantly hungry…so I ate. I probably had 6 meals a day. No joke. I drank more water than I ever have. Bought bigger clothes so that I could sit comfortably on the couch nursing my baby. And accepted it all for what it was…just one season of life.
I went on stroller walks almost daily (weather permitting). I got some sort of movement in during the day, but the priority was never to “lose the baby weight”. The priority was to accept the change. Everything is temporary. Your baby scooting, crawling, cooing, it’s all temporary, just like your baby weight.
Of course, you could keep the baby weight on longer, but The Modern Mama listens to her body, and takes care of it, for it is the only one she’s got. One of those thoughts that I wrote down in my first journal entry was “I will treat my body with the respect it deserves for having grown a healthy baby”. And thinking that thought on a daily basis will surely remind you to put that sleeve of oreos down and trade it for a yummy smoothie instead.
The Modern Mama Takes Action:
- Decide right now what your priorities are. Do you need to reprioritize based on the season of life you are currently in?
- Write down some loving thoughts you want to have about your postpartum body that you can look at every time the bad body thoughts use their outside voices.
- Download and use The Modern Meal Planner to help you plan your meals and snacks to fuel your body, to respect your body, not to punish your body.
