pregnancy

A fitspo mum gets real about her body six weeks after giving birth.

It goes without saying that the pressure new mums feel to ~bounce back~ after giving birth by immediately working on transforming their pregnancy belly into washboard abs is beyond ridiculous.

I don’t even have a baby, but I’m already dreading what the deluge of images of post-birth celebs and Instagram stars will do to my confidence when the time comes.

Now a fitspo mum Revie Jane Schulz has revealed she has been hung up over the “loose skin” on her post-pregnancy bod.

The Gold Coast crossfit trainer, who counts 112k Instagram followers, uploaded a post two weeks ago detailing how self-conscious she has been. The transformation image shows compares her pregnancy belly with her tum six weeks after giving birth. She looks a-m-a-z-i-n-g. But she still felt downhearted by her physique.

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She described being a mother as her “greatest accomplishment” and said her daughter Lexington was her “biggest blessing in life”. But she explained her journey had not been without difficulty, particularly given her career in fitness.

“I’ve found myself several times looking down at my belly. I caught myself feeling sad when clutching the loose skin that was once tight, unmarked and toned. I tried to embrace and remind myself what it was all for but am left feeling so self conscious.”

She said despite assuring herself to just “give it time”, she continued to battle feelings of shock and despair.

A photo posted by Revie Jane Schulz (@reviejane) on May 18, 2016 at 4:43pm PDT

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She questioned whether she would ever have the confidence to wear just sports bras and shorts like she used to.

Ms Schulz initially bottled up her insecurities for fear she was being ungrateful and vain, but then decided that suppressing her feelings could cause big problems in the future.

We asked women in the office what went through their head when they were giving birth. post continues after video… 

“When speaking to other Mum friends about it, they agreed that they felt like they were the only ones because its not often talked about,” she said.

Ms Schulz goes on to stress that it gets better each week.

“I have seen so many changes already and am starting to feel content again! Will my body ever be the same? No it probably won’t be and I’ve learnt it will be better in other ways,” she wrote.

A photo posted by Revie Jane Schulz (@reviejane) on May 11, 2016 at 11:01pm PDT

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In Ms Schulz’s circle of friends it appears mums don’t talk about their post-preggo body. But from my perspective it seems to be almost all that people are harping on about.

Just weeks ago we had another Queensland fitness model, Chontel Duncan, sharing shots of her own post-birth abs after keeping her followers updated throughout her active pregnancy.

While that is all well and good for people whose careers depend on them leaping back into tip-top shape ASAP, new mums need to let themselves off the hook. They have enough to worry about after pregnancy without plaguing their headspace with body image stress — like, for example, that screaming, hungry little human they just created.