It’s time to get real about postpartum bodies. In short, it’s not glamorous and can be a bumpy but short ride.

As my first time experiencing pregnancy and postpartum, it was not an easy journey since I really had no clue what to expect. Any small expectations I may have had, came from scrolling through Google and social media feeds. Oh man, was that a bad idea.

I certainly expected that I would fit right into my pre-baby jeans right after birth! It’s so easy to think so with all the images of women posting 6-week postpartum photos and looking like their pre-baby selves. How the hell do they do that? I was fixated as to why that was not happening to me.

Here I was three months after birth and it was consuming my mind! I annoyed most of my friends and then started feeling guilty that I was obsessing over my body while having this gorgeous, healthy baby boy (postpartum hormones are no joke, more on that at another time)!

I knew every woman was different but here I was exercising constantly, eating a well-rounded diet (can’t cut back calories because of breast-feeding) and nursing around the clock. Why didn’t I look like those ladies?

Come to find out many of those women can attribute those incredible photos to good genes, amazing lighting, and just the right angles.

I am now at 8 months postpartum and the pounds are flying off. Everyone told me so and guess what, it’s true!! It takes time and that looks different for every woman.

The change seemed to happen one day to the next. It’s like I woke up one morning to pounds off and hips back to normal. In hopes of helping someone else as worried as I was, below are my actual postpartum pictures. It’s real, raw, and not staged.

Here are my 5 take-aways from the postpartum experience.

1. Your hips AND SHOULDERS widen. Your body has to prepare for a human to come through, they must widen! Good news is, that they go right back in time.
2. Be patient. It does come. It can take awhile. Ride the wave, it’s a finite period of time.
3. Breast-feeding helps drop the weight. I didn’t get that concept at first, but it does wonders for the body.
4. Keep your maternity clothes for awhile. Wearing bigger or baggier clothing tricks your mind into feeling smaller.
5. Birth is an incredible process that puts your body through the ringer. You won’t feel like yourself for some time and that’s totally normal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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