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.
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.
She said despite assuring herself to just “give it time”, she continued to battle feelings of shock and despair.
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.
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.
Top Comments
This extreme version of fitness is harmful to many mums. Being fit can be stretching, tai chi, meditation, Pilates, yoga, swimming, walking. Yet all we see as popular representations of mums are show off bodies. My daughter gave birth and was fat shamed by a pt for being a size 10-12 (breastfeeding a 6 week old). Apparently you need a 6 pack, super toned arms, quads, the lot to even go to a gym as a mum. Let's be kind to mums who aren't rippling with bulging muscles and ripped abs. Honour the female body for giving life.
The thing is too, it hasn't changed to strong not skinny. My sister in law is incredibly strong, incredibly fit. She regularly competes in triathlons, goes mountain climbing, mountain biking, you name it. She is highly competitive. She trains nearly every day of the week. She is a size 14. So even though fitness and performance is at the centre of how she lives her life she isn't 'fitspo'. Fitspo is just thinspo with some abs. I'm not anywhere near as fit as my sister in law. I go to the gym 4-5 times a week and engage in classes like Pilates, boxing, TRX, weights and interval training - a mix of strength and cardio so long as it's fun. Why can't fitness inspiration be being the girl who doesn't miss a training session or being strong enough to do something you couldn't do before you started training or competing in a sport or no longer having a sore back all the time. I love the gym I go to. It's full of mums, grandmothers, dads, just normal people. I wear my unbrushed hair in a ponytail, my husbands oldest tshirt and some gym leggings that went through the wash with a tissue. Because that bit isn't important.
Can we please move on from articles about fit mothers and how they do/do not send a good message to women? I'm getting a bit bored.