Victory is mine!

BabyG is almost seven months old. I am now beginning to wear pre-pregnancy clothes. 

I read in various places that since it took nine months to swell your body up with baby you MUST allow yourself at least that long for your body to get back to pre-pregnancy size. This is something that is hard for new mothers to grasp and really allow for other mothers as well.

I look at pictures of a photoshoot I did with my family and BabyG when she was barely three months old. I cringe at my double chin and maternity dress still bumpy with bloated uterus. 

My BFF is a skinny-mini. When I was watching her kids they were around BabyG's age now. BFF had always been lanky and basketball player shaped but having twins separated her abs and made her belly button an outty... permanently. I'm saying all this to set the scene. Her body is forever changed by having three beautiful kids. She quickly got back to her pre-pregnancy weight and she's always looked skinny and stunning to me. With all this said: I remember going out to eat with them and after we all gorged ourselved with salty chinese food the lady at the register asked BFF if she was still pregnant. I was appalled. BFF is half my width when I am at my skinniest and this lady threw my BFF in a tailspin. Her kids were seven months old and she suddenly felt insecure about her shape and wanted to cry. 

Obviously the cashier didn't know her and she did carry a little bit of bump from her separated abs but we had just ate a bunch of food! When you are a very thin person ANY amount of food makes you have a little bump. (Not that I, personally, get to experience that. I'm not naturally thin like that.) 

I guess what I'm saying, at the expense of my friend as an example, that ALL body shapes take at least a year to get back to where you were before. Your body is forever changed. Studies show that having a baby forever leaves traces of that baby all throughout your body. Not just in the visible, but in your organs and even in the workings of your brain. Now, there are exceptions and various variables. I can't blanket statement this as much as society says to. 

Part of me wants to feel guilt that its taken me almost seven months to squeeze my frame into my "Before BabyG" pants but the other part of me... the part that is winning... is just happy that I am fitting in those clothes from the past. My "skinny" clothes that I like to call them. 

If you've had a kid you start talking in the BB and AB. (Before Baby and After Baby) I find it impossible to hold women on the same playing field as BB women.. or women who can't/won't have a kid. Only in the fitness realm, of course. (The other stuff is an entirely different post!) 

I think women who are AB need to forgive themselves a bit more. We are sleepless and have been living as a self-deemed whale for the last year. Maybe eating too much sweets or drinking too much sugary juice. All that fish oil you've been taking makes you retain even MORE water and ohmygoshcake. I ate so much birthday cake when I was pregnant and I can't even muster shame for it. I am a huge fan of Jillian Michaels and she lives by an 80/20 rule. She loathes the idea and term "cheat day" and basically her theory is: Eat 80% of your calorie intake be healthy/by the rules and 20% maybe not so good for you. To take the guilt off yourself. Allow yourself that 20% and try to stick with that. I applied it to my pregnancy cravings. If I felt I had ate too much junk, I made sure to walk a few miles or eat extra veggies during the next meal. 

Now... as a pregnant lady that ratio was probably off but it kept me mainly in check. I felt like I was preparing myself to lose the weight AB. I knew the sooner I started the better but if I had to enjoy pregnancy for all of its glory too.

Now, seven months later, my mantra is:

"Every victory is still a victory!"

Don't sell yourself short just because society has body issues.