You Need To Stop Stressing About Losing The Damn Baby Weight

I hate to break it to you, but you will leave the hospital with your sweet bundle of joy thinking to yourself (while looking down at your belly), “I thought I gave birth already.” Every mom has been there. Let’s get that straight first . . . and admit that it sucks.

No matter what size, body shape, or weight you were pre-pregnancy, we all feel the same stress about looking different after the baby is born. And the truth is, you will think about it a lot — almost as much as your days will soon be consumed with becoming a feeding machine.

And almost as much as you are thinking about it, you will be talking about it. You might not realize it, but you will most likely begin to obsess about it, and simple weight loss chit-chat becomes the (almost) center of your new world.

Take a breath, and stop obsessing about losing the damn baby weight.

Here’s why.

You’re using it as a crutch.

Find yourself ending each sentence with . . . when I lose the baby weight? Yup, it happens. Once the baby weight is there, we seemingly put things on hold until we lose a desired amount of weight, as if we’re not allowed to have any brand new experiences until the pounds are shed. This crutch prohibits you from living your life and is giving the power to the baby weight. Just stop it.

The whining is getting annoying.

Yes, I said it and you read correctly. It’s annoying to hear you repeat the same thing over and over about yourself, whining about how you need to change your eating habits, work out more, and hire a new trainer. Calm yourself and move forward with your life, the weight will still be there tomorrow. You need to zip those lips and start taking it day by day.

You will eventually become so busy you forget to eat.

Yes, we have that period of six weeks after giving birth where we need to rest our bodies and bond with our new baby and as a family — before we can start exercising again. During this period of time, there is lots of exhaustion, but also a lot of downtime. Yes, it may be tired downtime, but down time nonetheless. Then, after these six weeks are up, something shifts and the business settles in. It’s almost as if we wake up from a baby coma and something tells us we need to start feeling normal again. During this time you will catch up on laundry, pre-cooking meals, cleaning, and then something magical happens – you become so busy you forget to eat. Then, the baby weight magically begins to shed.

You will eventually love the skin you’re in.

Your body just did an amazing thing, and you should be patting yourself on the back instead of damning your body to shame. When you look down at that beautiful life you just brought into the world, you will gain a confidence that you never knew existed within you. Those stretch marks and extra pounds mean something, they are your baby battle scars and because of them you produced a miracle. Eventually, you will touch your skin and love every extra inch.

This post first appeared on Ravishly. Also from Ravishly: I Let My 8-Year-Old Drop F Bombs • 6 Parenting Guilt Trips • 3 Ways To Be A Better Parent Right Now