post baby body

Yesterday I weighed in at my pre-pregnancy weight.

Same number, yet my body looks SO different to how it did before I fell pregnant with Charlotte. My first feeling was one of dissapointent when I realised that 64 doesn’t look the same as it once did. Softer belly, arms that closer resemble Mrs Doubtfire than Mrs Obama, rounder face and some rather annoying lower back fat.

And then I looked at my slender legs and my still pretty perky breasts. I’m sure the latter will deflate somewhat when I stop breast feeding, but then I’m pretty sure that my additional oestrogen induced middle of the body softness will also adjust.

Source: am.new-u-eye.us via Noel on Pinterest

I’m healthy, active and relatively fit. I’d love to say that I’m as driven as Gwyneth or as blessed as Miranda but I’m not, and to be honest I dont think it matters. Charlotte thinks my body is awesome. It nourises her, it carries her, it comforts her and it plays with her. Tom, bless his cotton socks, still finds me sexy.

I may not be as strong as I was, nor am I as fit as I used to be, but I am in a very happy place with my body these days. I walk most days, I run when I feel like it, if I’m feeling extremely keen (which, by the way, is EXTREMELY rare) I will do a bit of a strength work out. I have been loving the momentum that Operation MOVE has given me and the encouragement to keep going, even if I never quite make my weekly exercise minute goals. I have been an active participant in Sugar Free September and I am less bloaty and more toned as a result. If I want to wear a bikini I will, though I dare say it won’t happen because that would require a substantial amount of garden maintenance which, quite frankly, I have neither time, energy or desire to tend to right now. But I wouldn’t put pressure on myself to work out for a million hours a week for the ‘priveledge’.

Feeling WELL and HEALTHY are far more important markers of health to me than numbers on a scale or clothing sizes. It saddens me that we live in a society where there is so much pressure on women to adhere to some airbrushed, super nannied, personal chef’d, stocks in Spanx kind of image. Fresh air, agile limbs, clear head. That’s where I’m at.

Tagged as: body image, celebrity, motherhood, Operation MOVE, post baby body, sugar free, Sugar Free September