Last night's topic of discussion for my aqua-fitness class was "Your Changing Pregnant Body". Granted, we've covered this before, and I've talked about it before in a previous post. I will, however, rehash this topic, because there were a few interesting revelations from last night's discussion.
First off, I'm not the only one who is pissed off at the changes in my body. Yay!!! Many girls complained about how they were once and exercised a ton, and then once they got pregnant, they gained all this extra weight and are having a hard time coping. My instructor, who has had 2 kids and is super-skinny even shared with the group that she gained a ton of weight for both pregnancies, in spite of her best efforts to exercise regularly and eat well. Her main take-aways were that:
1. You gain what your body is pre-disposed to gain. Basically, if you happen to be genetically-unfortunate and gain a ton of weight during your pregnancy in spite of trying your darndest to live a healthy lifestyle, you're stuck. Not a pleasant thought, but I guess it's a painful truth.
2. You WILL lose the weight. Easier said than done. You have to want to lose the weight, of course. It's not like it will automagically melt away as soon as you give birth. But I guess her point was that even if you gain a bunch of weight during pregnancy, it IS possible to lose it. As she pointed out, it takes 9 months to make a baby, and 9 months to lose that baby weight. I guess time will tell on that one.
Sure, it's easy for me to sit here and write about this because I haven't gained a ton of weight from my pregnancy. I try really hard to eat well and exercise regularly, but I guess my genes are helping me out too. My mom never gained a ton of weight when she had my sister and me. I guess that helps.
Yet, even though I haven't gained a ton of weight, I STILL have body-image issues. The fact is, I'm NOT as thin as I used to be. I CAN'T fit into my pre-maternity pants without wearing a Bella Band. Even before I started showing, I was having trouble fitting into some of my shirts because my boobs got too big. But yesterday, as each of us talked about how we felt about our bodies during pregnancy, I felt a little guilty. Most of the girls complaining about their weight had said that they were skinny before they got pregnant, and now they were fat. I complained about my weight, lamenting that I could no longer rock climb or play squash, or rollerblade. I complained about the fact that my boobs looked too big. I complained that I couldn't fit into my clothes. But of all the people who complained, I probably came off as being the one with the least to complain about.
Does that mean that I was less justified to complain? Probably. I guess this was an eye-opener of sorts. I work hard to not gain extra weight, but some of the weight I haven't gained was thanks to Nature. I've been spared (knock on wood).
As I reflect upon last night's discussion, I come to the realization that women will never be satisfied with their body image, even if they look perfectly fine. Case in point, I have a friend who is ridiculously ripped. Toned arms and legs, and six-pack abs. She sees a personal trainer regularly, and watches what she eats. And you know what she told me one day when we were clothes-shopping? She said that she couldn't shop anymore because she was having a "bad stomach day". If the girl with the six-pack abs was complaining about her stomach, is there any hope for the rest of us?
Sure there is. But I guess it proves my point - we'll never be satisfied with our bodies because there's always a better body to be had.
1 comment:
Very true. I think this shows that having a healthy PERSPECTIVE is just as important as having a healthy body.
After Christmas, I managed to lose about 5 lbs and was the lightest I'd been in many years (5 lbs lighter than my pre-preg weight). 5 lbs isn't much, but it was enough to make me feel fabulous, and enough that people commented that I was looking great. Sure I still had a flabby belly, but I didn't really care. It's amazing what a little ego boost can do.
Pregnancy actually gave me a great body image because I had an excuse for not having a tight little belly. From you belly pic, I think you look terrific! And given how active you are, I think you'll have no problems losing the weight.
The other thing to keep in mind is that you notice more than anyone else; you might have to wear a size or two bigger for a little while post-PK, but nobody else can tell what size you're wearing. They won't even think about it until you start losing the weight and they start telling you how fabulous you look. ;)
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