A blogger and mum-of-two has penned a poignant message of body acceptance that has struck a chord with thousands of women.
Laura Mazza, who writes as The Mum on The Run, shared the response she got when she told her partner and the father of her children: “This isn’t the body you fell in love with.”
“The body he fell in love with was toned, it had muscles, there were no stretch marks on my belly, none on my boobs, no gut from muscle separation,” she wrote next to an image of her stomach.
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“The body he fell in love with fit into tight jeans, could walk into a shop and grab any size and walk out, knowing it fit.”
The Aussie mum compared her pre-baby body to the one she has now, after two kids, sharing her frustration that meanwhile he partner’s body hasn’t changed at all since fatherhood.
“I stood in front of him, exhausted and broken, the tears welled in my eyes, ‘This isn’t the body you fell in love with.'”
And her partner’s response was perfect.
“Then he said, “You’re right. It isn’t the body I fell in love with.”
“Instead it’s a body that grew our children, it fed our children, it comforted our children, it made life. Your body is the one I fall in love with every day.
“I didn’t know what love was until I saw this body and found out all it could do, so thank you.”
Laura concluded by urging other mums to not be “ashamed” of their bodies or worry about losing weight.
“There’s plenty of time to give up cake in the future, for now, enjoy the moments you have, and enjoy the fact that you have made something that is worth every stretch mark and every dimple.
“If you needed a reminder, this is it, this body you have now, its worth every bit of love and more.”
The message resonated with thousands of mums and has been shared 56,000 times and liked by more than 33,000 people since it was posted on 26 June.
Among the 8000 comments were women saying “definitely hit home reading this” and “this is exactly how I feel”.
This isn’t the first time Laura has written candidly about her body on her blog.
In March she compared her body – and her mindset – of four years ago to her body now in an uplifting post liked and shared hundreds of times.
“Haters will say it’s not the same girl… But they’re also right, it’s not the same girl,” she captioned images of her before she had children, and now.
“And its not because in four years she had two pregnancies and two children, and she got a new iPhone. It’s because they are two different people.
“It’s because the girl before was miserable. She was hungry. She was proud of herself when she didn’t eat until she was full because that’s what they tell you to do.
“I changed because I realised when I looked into my children’s eyes I never wanted to fail them, I never wanted for them to not feel loved. How could I tell them to love their body if I didn’t love mine?”
You can read more from Laura Mazza on her Facebook page and blog.