Wellness Wednesday: Have A Positive Body Image

BODY IMAGE: 

the subjective picture or mental image of one's own body.

This a a bit of a loaded topic. I was thinking about this lately and how important it is especially for women. We are the ones who have to have babies, putting our body's through lots and lots of changes. I struggle with having a positive body image and I'm sure we all do every now and then. 

The hardest time for me accepting my body was right after having Chase. Before you are pregnant you are usually pretty comfortable with your body. I was in pretty good shape. Exercising 3-4 times and week and eating relatively healthy. You go from that to being pregnant (where you just accept your body gaining weight) then after you have the baby you are definitely not the same as pre-baby! Well I thought I was pretty fat. haha. I had never been like that or weighed that much in my entire life. Plus your belly is so loose and jiggly! It's so weird!

 Breastfeeding really does help. I gained around 35 lbs and when Chase was 12 weeks old I had lost around 30 lbs! I only had 5 more pound to lose. Which I still have not lost! Whatever I do, I can't lose those pounds. I think my body is just holding on to them while I breastfeed. 

Which brings me to accepting our bodies. Most of us (except for Victoria's Secret Models) don't have the perfect body (and they work pretty hard for it). I have learned since having a baby that the different parts of my body are not created equal. I hate my arms. I love my legs. No matter what I do my arms are never going to be stick thin. I have to learn to accept that or I will never be happy! So I try to focus on the parts of my body that I love!  We have our bodies the whole time we are here on earth so we need to embrace them and learn to love them for how they are! 

I find myself comparing my body to other people and wishing I was as skinny as they are. That my arms or stomach looked like theres. But then I realize how amazing our bodies are and what they are capable of: making babies, running marathons, working 12 hour shifts, surfing waves and hiking mountains.  And I remind myself to be grateful for my own healthy body. 

"Hating your body will never get you as far as loving it will"