Here's A Message For Moms Who Don't 'Bounce Back' After Baby

Revie Shulz tells moms it’s okay if you don’t love your post-baby body

Thanks to celebrity gossip rags, many people have the expectation that moms should be able to give birth and then climb immediately back into their skinny jeans, but most of us know that’s not how it works. Revie Jane Schulz, a personal trainer and the owner of Crossfit Babes in Miami, knows firsthand how tough it can be to accept your post-baby body. That’s why she recently took to Instagram with a revealing post that lets other moms know it’s okay if you don’t simply “bounce back” after having a baby.

Shulz is a new mom, who just gave birth to daughter Lexington about two months ago, and she bravely admitted that she’s had a little trouble adjusting to her post-pregnancy physique. “It’s been 6 weeks since I had my little Lexington and without contest, it has been my biggest blessing in life,” she wrote. “I post on the daily about how much I adore her and how happy I am, but there are other sides to becoming a mother that I think are really important to speak out about.”

Shulz went on to say that she’s caught herself looking down at her belly more frequently and “clutching the loose skin that was once tight, unmarked and toned.” Added the new mom, “I tried to embrace and remind myself what it was all for but am left feeling so self conscious… Being in my profession, I used to live in a sports bras and shorts, I wondered ‘Will I ever have the confidence to do that again?'”

Like most of us, Shulz has been pretty conflicted about how her body makes her feel. “I was confused because I felt like I was being ungrateful and vein [sic],” she said. “But how is suppressing feelings of sadness and insecurity going to work out for me? 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.”

As moms, we’re often encouraged to be grateful for our “tiger stripes” and all the amazing things our bodies can do, but it’s hard to feel that way when the rest of the world is simultaneously telling us to lose weight, squeeze ourselves into some size two jeans, and be super hot mommas. A lot of us don’t love our post-baby bodies, but we feel like we’re the only ones struggling, and it’s hard to live with those feelings.

Ultimately, Shulz said she learned that it’s okay to feel unhappy and insecure sometimes — loving life as a mom doesn’t mean you have to love every single thing that comes with it. “Yes, I have never been happier and yes I have a healthy, beautiful baby,” she wrote, “but that shouldn’t mean I bottle up these feelings [sic].”

Some women don’t “bounce back” after they have a baby, and regardless of your body size, it can take a really, really long time to feel confident in your new skin. As Shulz says, take your time. We’re allowed to adjust, and we’re allowed to feel conflicted, and after everything we go through to bring little people into the world, we’re entitled to a little bit of breathing room while we adapt to our lives as moms.

“Will my body ever be the same?” Shulz wrote. “No it probably won’t be and I’ve learnt it will be better in other ways… I am totally in a love fest over my darling girl, but we gotta look after ourselves too. We’ve all made our sacrifices and each of us are entitled to feel.”