If you're wanting a ‘I feel so in love with my body during preg episode' this is not it. I wish that is what I could say to you, bc that's really what I thought would happen… but oh my gosh it has been quite the humbling experience of even thought my literal job is helping others make peace with your body, I have had to remind myself of how to make peace with mine throughout all of these pregnancy body changes.
So if you are really struggling with body image + the fear of weight gain as you are pregnant, ohhh you are so not alone.
Stopped fitting into my clothes really fast
Instant felt ravenous
First OB appt at 6 weeks and was already up more than books said I should be in the entire first tri
Asked my OB about hunger – and she said be careful
Felt super uncomfortable with my body changing, especially bc nobody knew I was preg
In between move – not buying new clothes (triggering)
feeling like a fraud with my job
bought a ton of new clothes i thought would fit me for awhile, and they were tight within 2 weeks
and not even just clothes & bras, like my underwear wasn't even fitting
I thought that my stomach would grow out and I would have the round bump like I saw in photos, but i started to grow in my lower stomach, and i judged that
tiktok started showing me all these pregnant what I eat in a days that started to get in my head
I felt anger that I have to go through all these body changes as my husband just gets to stay the same
has a miscarriage scare around week 14 that really shifted things for me
in that moment, i had a heart to heart with myself – i can spend this whole preganacy stressing, or i can trust that whatever my body needs to do to make a healthy baby is what it needs to do even if that is different than what the books said, what happened to my mom, or what happened to others
i still have negative body image thoughts here and there, but I have an easier time letting them go
Here are the biggies I have done that have been a gamechanger in not letting negative body image take away from me experiencing this pregnancy
01. getting clothes that fit – started renting clothes
02. not looking at the monthly weigh-ins
03. marking ‘not interested' when I see a WIEIAD preg video
04. in BEU one of the things I teach during the BI phase is to make other things matter more
05. Immediately reaching out if I notice my head in a not-so-great space
06. using some major radical acceptance – i don't have to love this AND hating it doesn't change anything
07. taking it one day at a time
08. I stopped making my body changing mean so much
- it doesn't mean anything about my relationship with food
- it doesn't mean anything about my worth
- it doesn't mean anything about my credibility
If you are struggling with body image during pregnancy and relate to anything that I just shared, you are not alone. If you are not loving pregnancy, and you're feeling terrible for it, I feel you, you are not alone. And if you EVER need anyone to vent to, I am always here.
