https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 11 Apr 2026 16:39:27 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby/page/2#post-1442716 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 14:40:36 +0000 Grace 1442716@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Right after baby was born, I felt pretty good. It didn't bother me that there were stretch marks and doughy midsection. It's now 5 months pp and I really haven't been able to walk for most of the winter (too cold) and have only been to the gym a couple of times. So I don't feel too great right now. Come on spring!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442712 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 14:37:14 +0000 cascademom 1442712@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Post baby, I was okay with it being flabby and stretched. I gained a ton with nursing and stress. Now at 18 months pp, I'm happier with my body since going on WW. I plan to continue eating healthy into the next pregnancy, possibly using WW since they do account for pregnancy and nursing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442693 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 14:12:24 +0000 mrs. wagon 1442693@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I definitely care less about it, and I don't obsess over it anymore, which is a good and bad thing! I feel like my priorities have shifted to less superficial things (good) but by that happening, it's too easy to let myself go (bad) and become weak and unhealthy (worse). So while my body image is definitely better than before (when I had a pretty smokin bod!), it's harder to stay motivated. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442690 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 14:07:37 +0000 catlady 1442690@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I ate really well and worked out before and during my pregnancy. I probably cared about my pregnancy weight gain way too much but overall I was really happy with my body then. At 4 months post-partum, I am too sleep-deprived and busy with LO to work out or care! So not sure if that is better or worse! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442619 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 12:50:11 +0000 Aimed 1442619@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Bookish: @Smurfette: same here:( it's been a year since my LO was born and i dont feel good about my body. it is frustrating for my old jeans etc to be constantly tight even though I'm exercising and eating a bit better.<br /> I am being a nut about it and won't buy bigger pants as that feels like a slippery slope for me. I was I'm the best shape ever when I got pregnant so that's what I am comparing myself to which likely isn't helpful!<br /> Truthfully, I am not one of those ladies who embraces pregnancy and the power of my body in that way -I am too stuck on a dress size. Stupid I know.<br /> One thing that has made me feel better is when my LO is crawling over me and grabbing the squish, he doesn't care how I look, just that I'm his mom. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442618 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 12:49:53 +0000 Mrs. M 1442618@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I go back and forth. At the moment no. I still had 10 lbs. to lose when I got pregnant with LO #2 and I'm terrified at how much weight I may gain during this pregnancy. But, at times I don't care and figure I can work on it after baby arrives. When I look at my daughter it reminds me it was more than worth it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442575 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 11:54:00 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 1442575@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would say I care less, so yes, but I'm honest enough with myself to know I didn't feel this way until I lost the last of the baby weight ( around 11 months pp). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442574 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 11:53:30 +0000 erwoo 1442574@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I liked my body before but it's hard to go back to that after having two kids. I don't have the gene that makes you lose weight while nursing either. Haha! Okay, it didn't make me gain weight but I did after and, thankfully, only with my first and not my second. I'd like to go back to what I used to look like but I'm not hopeful and am actually okay with how I look now. I'm about 25lbs heavier but am happy. However, being in Asia I'm considered totally fat so it's slightly motivated me to start running again. Haven't started yet. But I guess I will for my health's sake. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442567 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 11:46:05 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 1442567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsH: I've always heard it can take up to a year to get back to "normal". Just relax. I know a month feels like forever but it's not; you just finished growing an entire person!!! The evidence is beautiful, I promise! :heart: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442562 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 11:42:39 +0000 MrsH 1442562@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ugh - at one month pp I am feeling super critical - not cool. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442557 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 11:37:22 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 1442557@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HLK208: same here! I feel like I wasted so much time hating myself, it's sad really! I hope my new outlook will translate to a healthy body image for my daughter as she grows. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442537 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 10:59:19 +0000 HLK208 1442537@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It is. I use to feel horrible about my body which was silly since I was a healthy weight. I focus less on how awful I look and more on wanting to improve myself and feel good rather than skinny. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442380 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 08:45:32 +0000 Pirouette 1442380@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsLipGloss: this! It's so hard not to compare! I'm only 9 weeks pp so I'm trying to take it in stride but it's so hard not to feel strong like I did before - I miss my abs!</p> <p>I don't think I have a negative body image (and I never have) but I do long for the 6 pack I used to have, but I know that 6 pack couldn't stay because my perfect daughter needed that space, and it's a no brainer I'd rather have her ;) and I will gladly hold onto extra weight right now to be able to meet her nutritional needs :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1442354 Sat, 22 Feb 2014 08:04:25 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 1442354@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@septca: so far I liked myself best pregnant too! I just never would have been this forgiving or kind to myself before hand!<br /> And I think it's wonderful for you to look at yourself so positively. I would be so easy to focus on the negative but you aren't choosing to do that!! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1440122 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 10:02:56 +0000 Smurfette 1440122@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Bookish: I am already making sure I don't make comments about dieting/my body around her. Just to get in the habit. </p> <p>@Mamasig: My DH travels during the week, so I just cancelled my gym membership cause I could never go (hours never worked out on the weekends) But I have to do something cause it isn't fair to me. I want to feel good about myself again. I want to feel like that my DH is attractive to me (I know he is now but you get what I am saying). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1440108 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:59:46 +0000 Mamasig 1440108@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Smurfette: same here. I don't hate my body but it kind of makes me sad to see what it looks like now. Not that I was super fit before but I was more toned and no stretch marks on my tummy. Now with baby #2 in there, lord only knows how it will look like after. When I look at my little boy, I know he was totally worth it, but I still miss what I looked like. I should have appreciated it then. </p> <p>And I can't really complain because I don't work out. When would I find the time to do that?! I hope to after this one. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1440102 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:58:43 +0000 LuLu Mom 1440102@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I used to have some very bad habits to lose/maintain my weight in HS/College, so me being at a bigger body has been hard on me but I refuse to go back to that place. I wish I had more motivation to lose weight, but I respect my body that i'm in now because it has given me my daughter. I don't want her growing up in a house where being skinny is everything. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1440099 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:57:14 +0000 bookwormmama 1440099@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DH commented to me a couple weeks ago that he felt like my self-esteem was really good right now (currently pregnant). I gained a lot of weight in the beginning number wise but it all went to my belly, so I feel really good about myself pregnant. I'm curious to see if that carries over to my postpartum body. I hope so! It's been nice to not feel bad about the way I look! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1440061 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:50:17 +0000 Silva 1440061@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, absolutely.</p> <p>To be fair, I've dropped below my pre-pregnancy weight by 5lbs at this point by breastfeeding and moderate exercise alone. But once I was back to within 5-10lbs of my old weight I felt totally fine. I think like @NurseMommy: I care a lot less, too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1440054 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:48:54 +0000 Bookish 1440054@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No :( I'm tired of eating better and being more active and still not being able to fit in my clothes, to buy normal shirts at the store... to just look at myself in the mirror and not think I look horrible. I'm having a pretty hard time with my pp-body.. but I am making a pretty big effort to not be negative about myself around LO. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1440045 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:45:55 +0000 septca 1440045@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Sunshine: Congratulations! That is wonderful. Seriously - embrace it.</p> <p>I go back and forth - the last couple of years have been difficult on my body and I (which has been tough because I have always been pretty slim and in shape so never thought much about it before TTC). I *like* my body a lot more than I did before I started TTC because it has been so strong and powerful - it carried and created a human, went through a loooonnnnng labor without meds, and BF a beautiful baby for 12+ months. But it is also riddled with endometriosis, had a postpartum hemorrhage, retained placenta, and has caused me a lot of post-childbirth pain. </p> <p>I was the happiest with my body that I have ever been when I was pregnant. I felt so strong and beautiful. Now, a year pp, I'm below my pre-preg weight, but everything is a little softer and droopier than before. I have faith that I get can my butt back in fighting shape, but I figure that's something I'll deal with when we are done having kids (TTC #2 now)... :wink: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439997 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:32:07 +0000 littlebug 1439997@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wouldn't say it's healthier by any means. I weigh 15 pounds less than I did when I got pregnant, but I'm squishier than I was, too. I struggle with that, a little bit. But at the same time, I am so fiercely proud of how my body did through pregnancy/delivery/postpartum that the extra squish and wobblies doesn't really faze me. So no, I'm not healthier, but my pride in my body kind of outweighs my unhappiness with its appearance. If that makes any sense whatsoever. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439976 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:23:57 +0000 blackbird 1439976@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm accepting of the things like stretch marks and stuff, but my body image didn't really get better until I dropped all the weight and started to eat right and get my shape back. I'm just not me unless I look and feel like me, no matter what's come out of my body. Having a baby didn't make me complacent in that department. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439909 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:02:21 +0000 MsLipGloss 1439909@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Smurfette: @JoJoGirl: Right there with ya! I was in incredible shape when I got knocked up, and it's just so hard not to compare what I look like now to what I looked like then . . . I am s-l-o-w-y getting back to *normal*, but it's taking so much longer than I ever imagined it would. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439906 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:00:50 +0000 lilyann 1439906@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not one bit....but I am going to work on that after baby #2. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439905 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:00:45 +0000 edelweiss 1439905@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Greentea: haha i'm sure that's not the case but this made me laugh anyway.</p> <p>i think my body image is about the same as pre-baby. as in, not great but not horrible, and certainly much much better than it used to be. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439893 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 08:58:15 +0000 Mrs. Pen 1439893@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Definitely not. I have a really hard time now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439824 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 08:34:38 +0000 MoonMoon 1439824@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, I feel so bad that I spent decades hating it! I'm so grateful for the healthy pregnancy, birth, and baby my body gave me! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439794 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 08:16:25 +0000 petunia354 1439794@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Some days yes, some days no. I appreciate what my body has done and I try not to beat myself up over the extra pounds I'm holding on to. I keep telling myself that time spent with DS is more valuable right now than time spent at the gym but I think that excuse is wearing thin. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-your-body-image-healthier-after-baby#post-1439780 Fri, 21 Feb 2014 08:11:47 +0000 Ra 1439780@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope! I don't even recognize myself anymore. </p>