Do you struggle with having positive body image while pregnant? Or maybe you are still holding onto weight from a previous pregnancy.
Being content with your body either during pregnancy or after baby is a state of mind and I’ll admit that it’s hard for me to love my body when I’m pregnant. My clothes get tighter and more uncomfortable which doesn’t do much good for my self-esteem.
As I’m going through my fourth pregnancy, I’m trying to focus more on being content with my body. In October, I will give birth to my fourth child in five years.
That’s kind of crazy to think that I have been pregnant or nursing for five years straight. This my friends can do crazy things to your metabolism and sadly I’m not one of those women that just melts off the weight by breastfeeding. My body has changed so much over the years and it’s hard to accept sometimes.
I’ve prayed that God would give me the wisdom and confidence to not feel unhappy with my appearance, but it’s hard. Especially when I try so hard to eat healthy while pregnant, it’s difficult to see the number on the scale keep going up.
So if you are in the same boat as I am, I want to share with you how I’m shifting my focus off of my looks and onto more important things.
Shifting focus off your looks and being content with your body
1. Tune out the voices
I was shopping at a consignment sale one time and the women in front of me were buying baby clothing. The lady that was working at the sale said, “You do not look like you just had a baby!” and the woman replied “well she’s 4 months old”.
Here I am clearly looking like I just had a baby, feeling ashamed. Why couldn’t my body bounce back like hers? I ate healthy during my pregnancy and I worked out, why can’t I have a body like that?
God created us all different shapes and sizes. We must set our minds on who we are in Christ rather than who the world says we should be.
Our culture creates a tremendous amount of pressure on us moms to get back in our pre-pregnancy clothes right away. Try your best to be healthy for your family and yourself but never obsess over being the size you were. This will only steal the joy from your motherhood.
2. You are blessed to be someone’s mom.
Our children are a gift that God has given us to care and raise to love Him.
What are we teaching our children when we are constantly concerned with our weight? I tell my children that they are special in their own unique way, but do I believe that about myself?
When I think about the mother that I want to be, I want to be a fun and loving person that they enjoy being around. When I’m constantly dissatisfied with my body it creates a negative attitude that no one wants to be around.
I should think of how blessed I am to be able to have children and realize that being pregnant is so much more than weight gain. It’s a gift.
3. Enjoy your family more than you enjoy food
With social media, it’s difficult to not crave food all the time.
My husband loves to give me a hard time when I scroll through Pinterest and suddenly see a picture of brownies then instantly I think that I NEED brownies.
We live in a culture that always says “I want it and I want it now!” and I’m guilty of feeling this way when it comes to food (especially while pregnant). Sometimes I feel like I must have a specific food that I’m craving and I’m not going to be happy until I get it.
It’s silly to take food so seriously. But I’m sure if you are pregnant or if you have ever been pregnant, then you know that sometimes you get really hungry and maybe even grouchy when you don’t get that specific food.
Although, I never want to be so consumed with food that I neglect my family. I will also never feel good about myself if I’m constantly making bad eating choices.
We live a culture that encourages us to “eat for two” and then later on reminds us that “we are huge!”. It seems like a constant battle in your mind between feeling like you have earned the right to binge and later feeling depressed when someone makes a comment about how big you have gotten.
When we allow our sinful and foolish desires to control us, we cannot honor God, our bodies hurt, and we feel badly about ourselves in the worst possible way.
We should strive to be healthy and make time to care for ourselves. More importantly however, we should remember that God loves us and has a big plan for our life. Their is so much more to our life than our appearance.
Pray for contentment and peace in who God created you to be.
Focus more on what’s going on in the inside and the legacy that you will leave.
This article from WebMD will also help with more guides on getting your body back after pregnancy.
