Really? A health blog? It's literally, not even Christmas yet. Please don't preach about your New Year's Resolutions to lose weight and gain muscle.
Okay. I wont.
Instead, I want to show you something.
Okay. I wont.
Instead, I want to show you something.
What do you see? Don't answer too quickly. I'm not fishing for compliments; in fact I reject anything you have to say about me looking good. Because that's not what this is about.
Things have been coming across my social media pages with this idea of "getting your body back after having a baby." The ideas come through saying multiple things: get healthy, burn fat, eat right, don't stress about it, reject the status quo, don't work out, focus on your family, work out all the time, devote yourself to your diet, cut out gluten/sugar/meat/cheese.
I've vehemently shared the posts promoting body positivity. I have enthusiastically cheered on moms that share their stretch marks, their post baby bodies, in hopes that we will shatter the stigma that we need to be able to look as society's standards of beauty dictates.
I'm not the first to champion this idea that we, as mothers especially, should not be slave to this awful standard. This is not new, or innovative. But I've been the first to tell you that I am NOT trying to "get my body back."
In fact, I've been so against this idea of "getting my body back," I forgot what it really means.
We've put this connotation on that phrase that I don't think should ever be put onto it. The modern mom hears "she got her body back," and we shudder. We picture a mom who just plopped out a baby, showered, got dressed in clothes she's fit in since high school, and walks out of the hospital like nothing happened. It's discouraging for us moms that are 9 months postpartum, still carrying those reminders of pregnancy and labor to hear anything about "getting your body back."
So we reject it. We push it so far behind. We focus on our little one, as we should. Put all our energy into our new family, our new job, our new goal. Our rejection, turns to neglect.
We neglect ourselves. We neglect our bodies. We get so far into our neglect that we start to feel, for lack of a better word, rough.
Tired.
Exhausted.
Numb, maybe.
It's not a bad thing to think about others more than yourself. I mean, that's like a huge theme throughout most of the Bible. So it can't be a bad thing.
So why do I feel so terrible when I neglect myself?
Where's the line?
How do I put myself in the mix?
*shrug emoji*
I. Don't. Know. I have no answers besides the cliche.
Eat real food.
Drink more water.
Occasionally go to the gym. (Ugh. That one's stupid).
I hate diets. I hate working out. I don't get the people that loves either of those things. I don't understand. Some of y'all be out there filling up my social media feed with things like "getting those gains!" And "loving on some quinoa!"
I mean, it sounds like your lying, but okay.
I want to get my body back. My HEALTHY body. I don't care what it looks like. If I still don't have a flat stomach- I don't care. I just want to not be tired. Not be lagging. Not have to feel like garbage after every meal.
I don't do the resolution thing. Because, I'm a flake. So no disappointment this way. But I'm going to start making better choices for my health. I could use some encouragement in this. Help me make some better choices. But, like, don't be mean about it- because I don't respond well to that kind of motivation.
BTW: Photos are courtesy of Esai Cruz