The post-baby body is something that plenty of mothers agonize over. Though there’s nothing quite as fulfilling as having a child, seeing your body stretch and sag and break can be a bit of a downer.
Blogger Laura Mazza of The Mum on the Run recently shared before and after photos on Facebook that went viral for all the right reasons. Before and after photos usually show someone getting ripped after months of grueling diets and workout sessions, but this was different.
“No, this isn’t a before and after shot of weight loss,” Mazza wrote in her caption. “But it is a victory story. I write this from my heart. It hurts.”
“No stretch marks or scars from belly button piercings. A belly button that was high. A flat stomach,” she wrote of her pre-baby body. “I was always on a diet back then.”
Mazza used to diet so obsessively that she ended up making herself ill.
“I ate no carbs, and barely any vegetables. Just meat. But I loved it because I was losing weight rapidly and the more bones that protruded the more I valued myself. I ended up hating meat, and was always suffering from heartburn.”
Even though she felt good enough to take photos of herself and upload them on social media, she still wasn’t happy with the way she looked. “But still I looked at this photo, this image of myself, like I was fat. There was nothing wrong with the way I looked. My body was mine.”
On the next page: Mazza on loving her body and emphasizing health and happiness, not size.
Mazza wrote that she still struggles with a low self-image, but now, she’s a lot healthier.
“Stretch marks,” she wrote, describing her current body. “A droopy belly button. Thicker, not many bones protruding, but more dimples that represent cellulite.”
“The scars and stretch marks and jiggly tummy is because I made humans,” she explained. “I ate a little more cake, I drank a little more wine. I made mug cakes at 9pm and snuggled on the couch with my husband. But for some reason, I didn't love this body. It's sad.”
She has realized, however, that her post-body deserves her love.
“But you know what? I have achieved more with this body, then I have with my old body. I've eaten more good foods. I've lived more, I've given more, I've enjoyed more. I've made life. This body, THIS body should be celebrated and admired.”
Mazza isn’t saying that it’s bad to have fitness goals or want to get back “in shape.” “I still want to look like the first photo, no doubt,” she continued. “I miss that body, it makes me sad. But I want to get there in a healthy way, mentally and physically.”
“I want to be proud and at peace with this body. And I want to like what I've got now. No. I want to love what I've got now.”
READ: 18 Quotes from celebrity moms on embracing their post-baby bodies
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