The mom Bod
Mom Bods rule
Out of all the things I thought of when I was finding motivation to start my health journey, nothing prepared me for my brand new "mom bod." I always saw the instagram mamas, skinny, happy and wearing cute little teeny weenie bikinis walking their cute little chubby baby down the beach. OKAY WHAT THE CRAP?!
After losing close to 70 pounds and working so hard on my eating habits and daily activity I thought for sure it was going to be my time to SHINE. I kept waiting and waiting for the cute, tight bod I had before, I mean I always had a little tummy chub, but you could tell I worked out at least.
WELL, I tell ya what, It was quite clear what the heck everyone meant when they were talking about the "mom bod." I had these chubby chicken legs, rolls for days and these wings for arms.
The way my 'mom bod' turned out was definitely defined by the fact I lost 70 pounds and also had a baby. I am sure that if I was a crossfit athlete with a pristine diet, my bod might look a smidge different. Because I lost a good amount of weight in five months, I was already going to have the loose skin, but having a baby on top of it all also helped with the deflated balloon of the stomach that didn't even look like a "once was."
Before I go on I just want to be completely honest here while I try to explain how the 'mom bod' hit me. It is something that is hard for me to personally talk about, but if one person out there is going through the same struggle and can relate, then it was totally worth it to put it out there because going through it together is 100% better than alone!
I look at my body and sometimes think "how in the world would my husband even find this remotely sexy?" My arms have skin that will jiggle for a good few seconds after I am done waving goodbye. My boobs, yeesh do we even want to go there?! Lets just say there was an episode from teen mom 2 where one of the girls was talking about the dangle and my husband and I both knew exactly what she was talking about. My stomach, yea it hangs low. There is no tightness to it at all, it just hangs there. I am sure when I loose the last 20ish pounds that it might look a little different, but right now that is what it does. Unless I sit, then it folds itself into a hot dog. My legs look chickeny, but still my thighs have never held back and they still have the thundery jiggle. I have stretch marks all over my stomach, thighs and arms. They are purple and very noticeable. I am trying to figure out a way to help make them not so presentable, any suggestions are much appreciated! When I go on my runs and it all comes together, I feel like everyone is watching my butt flap up and down and I am always a little slightly nervous my boobs might hit me in the face...probably need a new sports bra.
SO, after having all those fun descriptions thrown your way I am sure you can kind of tell now that Kayleens mom bod rocks, because it is the perfect softness for snuggling...too bad she has personal space issues and her poor husband who loves to snuggle misses out after Maverick hogs all the time she can stand.
The first time seeing my body in the hospital I remember thinking "Ok, some work is needed to be done, it will look different soon" I put on my shirt and tightened my robe up. The next time I got the courage to look into a full length mirror was after a month of working out. Again I thought "I am doing something about it and it is going to take time, but it will be different." I kept looking and waiting. Waiting for this huge change where one of these times I would look into the mirror and see this fitness model. Five months of working hard non-stop and it didn't happen. Today, looking into the mirror my body does look different. It looks healthier and happier. The work that I put in physically is starting to pay off and it feels amazing!
The part that I needed to work on a little more was mentally. It was and is so hard sometimes to love the body you have. Especially when you are hoping for one thing and getting another. We always joke about the mom bod and I tried to embrace it the best I could at first, but I don't think I really understood what it was.
Here is something interesting, I looked up on good ol' google, "what is a mom bod?" here is the definition it provided me with. "A body typical of a women who has had a child, or children and isn't super fit. Bearing children significantly changes a womens body, and these ladies are using their mom bod to challenge society's unrealistic expectations about what women should look like shortly after having a baby." I like that. Us moms are challenging societys expectations!After some sould searching and understanding my own mom bod I think I would like to change that definition up a bit.
If I could give a definition it would be something like this..." A body of a women who has sacrificed her body to give life to another human, one that works 24/7 to fill the needs of the other bodies around her, a body that can run on fumes, but always has just enough energy in those extra times of need (usually in the middle of the night), the body of a women who never stops giving, the one that can do anything and everything and it is a body to be proud of and celebrated. This body isn't just the body shortly after a baby, its a new body a women gets to remind her the rest of her life she is amazing."
Of course our bodies will change as time goes on, we might gain extra weight, or we might lose some. One thing we won't ever lose is the fact that its the body you have after a baby, the one that stretched itself out, moved organs and produced food for your baby and it is the same exact one that moves those organs back where they are supposed to go-ish, that same one gives you the energy to serve others non stop and pushes through those workouts you ask it to do when you are completely exhausted.
One thing that I have learned is every "mom bod" looks a little different. The girl on Instagram didn't gain 90 pounds during her pregnancy and she didn't have a c-section. Why should her body look like mine? I am sure that she has her own struggles and insecurities just like I do. The Dr. Suess quotes comes to mind, "Today you are you, that is truer than true. there is no one alive who is youer than you." HECK. YA. It is totally okay I don't look like her. I look like me in mom form. I had no idea what that would look like before I had Maverick, but now I do. When I look back at what my body did and went through I really can't help, but to be grateful. I am so grateful it got me through one of the hardest times in my life and was still able to keep Maverick healthy enough to be born into this world. Of course my body is not where I would just love it to be, but that is also part of my journey back to health. I get to celebrate its victory so far and I think every mama out there should too. Yes we could all probably eat healthier and workout a little more, but I'm sorry last night Maverick woke up in hysterics for an hour and a half and all I could think of was "that peanut butter cookie on the counter would really help make this not so suckish." So we put on Madagascar2 and snacked a little.
I have loose skin and stretch marks that absolutely drive me crazy. Sometimes I even think "really after all that, I don't deserve this?!", but I also have to remind myself that I do deserve to look like a mom because gosh darn I earned that title. Someday it will be my time to have that "fit mom bod" and it will happen because I won't ever give up, the key word being mom. You may be fit, but its still a mom bod because no matter what you do, your body still and always will be the same body that brought that cute little baby into this world. It is a body to celebrate and embrace. Mom bods freakin rule!
-Kayleen
Out of all the things I thought of when I was finding motivation to start my health journey, nothing prepared me for my brand new "mom bod." I always saw the instagram mamas, skinny, happy and wearing cute little teeny weenie bikinis walking their cute little chubby baby down the beach. OKAY WHAT THE CRAP?!
After losing close to 70 pounds and working so hard on my eating habits and daily activity I thought for sure it was going to be my time to SHINE. I kept waiting and waiting for the cute, tight bod I had before, I mean I always had a little tummy chub, but you could tell I worked out at least.
WELL, I tell ya what, It was quite clear what the heck everyone meant when they were talking about the "mom bod." I had these chubby chicken legs, rolls for days and these wings for arms.
The way my 'mom bod' turned out was definitely defined by the fact I lost 70 pounds and also had a baby. I am sure that if I was a crossfit athlete with a pristine diet, my bod might look a smidge different. Because I lost a good amount of weight in five months, I was already going to have the loose skin, but having a baby on top of it all also helped with the deflated balloon of the stomach that didn't even look like a "once was."
Before I go on I just want to be completely honest here while I try to explain how the 'mom bod' hit me. It is something that is hard for me to personally talk about, but if one person out there is going through the same struggle and can relate, then it was totally worth it to put it out there because going through it together is 100% better than alone!
I look at my body and sometimes think "how in the world would my husband even find this remotely sexy?" My arms have skin that will jiggle for a good few seconds after I am done waving goodbye. My boobs, yeesh do we even want to go there?! Lets just say there was an episode from teen mom 2 where one of the girls was talking about the dangle and my husband and I both knew exactly what she was talking about. My stomach, yea it hangs low. There is no tightness to it at all, it just hangs there. I am sure when I loose the last 20ish pounds that it might look a little different, but right now that is what it does. Unless I sit, then it folds itself into a hot dog. My legs look chickeny, but still my thighs have never held back and they still have the thundery jiggle. I have stretch marks all over my stomach, thighs and arms. They are purple and very noticeable. I am trying to figure out a way to help make them not so presentable, any suggestions are much appreciated! When I go on my runs and it all comes together, I feel like everyone is watching my butt flap up and down and I am always a little slightly nervous my boobs might hit me in the face...probably need a new sports bra.
SO, after having all those fun descriptions thrown your way I am sure you can kind of tell now that Kayleens mom bod rocks, because it is the perfect softness for snuggling...too bad she has personal space issues and her poor husband who loves to snuggle misses out after Maverick hogs all the time she can stand.
The first time seeing my body in the hospital I remember thinking "Ok, some work is needed to be done, it will look different soon" I put on my shirt and tightened my robe up. The next time I got the courage to look into a full length mirror was after a month of working out. Again I thought "I am doing something about it and it is going to take time, but it will be different." I kept looking and waiting. Waiting for this huge change where one of these times I would look into the mirror and see this fitness model. Five months of working hard non-stop and it didn't happen. Today, looking into the mirror my body does look different. It looks healthier and happier. The work that I put in physically is starting to pay off and it feels amazing!
The part that I needed to work on a little more was mentally. It was and is so hard sometimes to love the body you have. Especially when you are hoping for one thing and getting another. We always joke about the mom bod and I tried to embrace it the best I could at first, but I don't think I really understood what it was.
Here is something interesting, I looked up on good ol' google, "what is a mom bod?" here is the definition it provided me with. "A body typical of a women who has had a child, or children and isn't super fit. Bearing children significantly changes a womens body, and these ladies are using their mom bod to challenge society's unrealistic expectations about what women should look like shortly after having a baby." I like that. Us moms are challenging societys expectations!After some sould searching and understanding my own mom bod I think I would like to change that definition up a bit.
If I could give a definition it would be something like this..." A body of a women who has sacrificed her body to give life to another human, one that works 24/7 to fill the needs of the other bodies around her, a body that can run on fumes, but always has just enough energy in those extra times of need (usually in the middle of the night), the body of a women who never stops giving, the one that can do anything and everything and it is a body to be proud of and celebrated. This body isn't just the body shortly after a baby, its a new body a women gets to remind her the rest of her life she is amazing."
Of course our bodies will change as time goes on, we might gain extra weight, or we might lose some. One thing we won't ever lose is the fact that its the body you have after a baby, the one that stretched itself out, moved organs and produced food for your baby and it is the same exact one that moves those organs back where they are supposed to go-ish, that same one gives you the energy to serve others non stop and pushes through those workouts you ask it to do when you are completely exhausted.
One thing that I have learned is every "mom bod" looks a little different. The girl on Instagram didn't gain 90 pounds during her pregnancy and she didn't have a c-section. Why should her body look like mine? I am sure that she has her own struggles and insecurities just like I do. The Dr. Suess quotes comes to mind, "Today you are you, that is truer than true. there is no one alive who is youer than you." HECK. YA. It is totally okay I don't look like her. I look like me in mom form. I had no idea what that would look like before I had Maverick, but now I do. When I look back at what my body did and went through I really can't help, but to be grateful. I am so grateful it got me through one of the hardest times in my life and was still able to keep Maverick healthy enough to be born into this world. Of course my body is not where I would just love it to be, but that is also part of my journey back to health. I get to celebrate its victory so far and I think every mama out there should too. Yes we could all probably eat healthier and workout a little more, but I'm sorry last night Maverick woke up in hysterics for an hour and a half and all I could think of was "that peanut butter cookie on the counter would really help make this not so suckish." So we put on Madagascar2 and snacked a little.
I have loose skin and stretch marks that absolutely drive me crazy. Sometimes I even think "really after all that, I don't deserve this?!", but I also have to remind myself that I do deserve to look like a mom because gosh darn I earned that title. Someday it will be my time to have that "fit mom bod" and it will happen because I won't ever give up, the key word being mom. You may be fit, but its still a mom bod because no matter what you do, your body still and always will be the same body that brought that cute little baby into this world. It is a body to celebrate and embrace. Mom bods freakin rule!
-Kayleen
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