What does your body look like?

[Zola78]

I'd like to have more children but the vain part of me looks at my body and thinks oh no. I'm a size 12 but my tummy wobbles (only had ds3 11 weeks ago) as does my bum. My breast are edging closer and closer to my to my knees. Whilst alot of these defects can't be seen by others they can be seen by myself and my dh.

What has been the effets on your body of having a large family and do you care?

[Judy1234]

I have 5. Last night out to dinner looking reasonably good I felt like Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Every other woman in the restaurant was over 13 stone and many a lot more, including a table by us with middle aged women all of whom were very short and extremely fat all with an identical close cropped hair style. I have 5 children. I'm 46.

If you aren't happy with the wobbling do more exercise, perhaps go down to 10 stone. None of that has anything to do with numbers of children though in my view. Large families are huge fun.

Also it pays not just to define yourself by your looks. I have a really interesting career and even if I suffered burns over all my body and lost my legs or something I think that wouldn't bother me too much because of the other aspects of my life that I enjoy.

[stuffitllama]

I think there are some bits exercise can't do much about. Boobs for a start. Body pump is great for bum and love handles though. I have three and I think having another would make me thinner but "looser" hah! So you win, you lose. If I wanted another baby what my body would look like after wouldn't be an issue and i'm sure it wouldn't be with you! My biggest worry would be having to wear nappies after a fourth.. really must do more pelvic floor exercises

[WallOfSilence]

I heart Xenia!!

[stuffitllama]

I still think Xenia is Cassandra Jardine. Are you ?

[Judy1234]

No. I am not CJ. I'm nobody of any interest but I do have good pelvic floor muscles. I don't know why that is so but it does show you can have five vaginal births without destroying those muscles.

Actually tonight was probably simply because everyone else looked so dire. It was obesity as much as anything. People seem to eat such huge portions of food.

(Wall, thanks)

if you just had a child 11 weeks ago I would just relax, breast feed (which is good for your body and makes it look better), get as much sleep as you can, don't eat junk food, take the baby for lots of work (in my case getting back to work by then helped a lot, being back in heels, skirts etc makes you feel good and being a woman, nor just a mother)

[stuffitllama]

Thanks for clearing that up.. have always had sneaking suspicion...

[juuule]

Having children didn't have much effect on my body. Nos. 8 and 9 left a couple of small stretch marks. However, passing 4O, not doing enough exercise and eating too much is.

[Psychomum5]

my body looks ok.....pretty good in fact, but then I am aware I am rather lucky in a way as I don't work for it, I don't have stretch marks either!

BUT my pelvic floor isn;t up to much anymore, and I no longer can bounce on a trampoline without fearing an accident, so I will be investing in somesuch device recommended by kitty on our OWL thread.

I am now 1/2st lighter than when I got married, and am wearing sz6 jeans today, altho am a sz 8-10 on top........

don;t feel too envious tho.....I have suffered 2 car accidents in less than 18mths, and I am one of those people who stop eating while under stress, so am this size in an unhealthy way rather than an excersize and eating good wholesome food way!

boobs still in the right place tho!!!

[Immaculateconception]

I'm a size 8/10, the tummy is far from wobbly though does have some stretchmarks! Have to look good for work, but come the weekend and I'm in jeans and t shirt and no make up. My pelvic floor has suffered no damage and considering I've had all natural births I suppose that's a good thing.

[SheikYerbouti]

I look like the bastard love child of Mealoaf and Bella Emberg.

IU looked like that before children

[Cadmum]

I look fine. The jeans I wore when I was 23 still fit... I am still BF dd2 so I can't comment on boobs because I am not done. I suspect that they will be a disaster!

I don't have stretch marks. My pelvic floor is intact despite four deliveries and 3 D&Cs...

I am a bit like Psychomum in the eating department though. Not thin because I am fit but because I am STRESSED to the teeth!

[DragonFaerie]

My body : chest like saggy tea bags and stomach used to be just as bad but gradually getting better... lots of excercises and creams!! (DC4 is 5 though!!)Generally sz 10 but aiming for 8 again ..now where's that Slimming thread ...?

However, would love another baby and wouldn't care what my body looked like if I was in a position to do it all again. (I'm not)

[Zola78]

Xenia, I agree that exercise and a healthy diet would help however, there are certain areas that won't improve i.e my sagging breasts. I am doing press ups etc to sustain the problem areas but it's not going to look the same. I guess that's what is slight disappointing.

[nkf]

Well, you could look at it like this. Everyone looks dreadful eventually and you'll always have the lovely children.

[Judy1234]

I think my breasts have stayed the same since I was 14. They always needed support as they're quite large, so perhaps I never noticed a change. Can;t you just wear good underwear? Does it matter what they look like really?

This is all more of an issue for people my age - 46. As you get beyond 50 your looks do change and that (at the moment) doesn't bother me at all. i think a lot of these issues are issues of psychology and people would be better paying for therapy than breast enlargement and liposuction. The changes women go through and men in looks throughout their lives is just part of life and it's something in a sense to be relished. One phase ends and another starts. you can still look pretty beautiful at 60 as 40 I think and men age too.

I think if it were a choice between body changes and my 5 children I'd take the children to be honest. But then I've always liked my breasts. Perhaps the key issue is why do so many women hate bits of their bodies? What causes that angst? Why do I usually like how I look? Is it how we bring up a child that gives you body acceptance? Do I like myself because I don't watch TV or films? Is it simpler - that I look pretty good anyway? Why did or does my sister hate her looks and was bulimic and anorexic and I wasn't? Fascinating questions.

[Divastrop]

apart from my wobbly tummy and bucket fanjo,my body is better then it was before i had kids.my boobs have always been big and saggy,my tummy was horrible from the age of 15 when i had my appendix out,and i never did any excersise.

i look after my body more now than i used to,excersise is my way of unwinding at the end of the day,plus i am constantly running around.

[liahgen]

for my post 2nd child body. 3rd one, all went to pot.

no stretchmarks, despite 5 large babies, smallest 8lb. Pelvic floor, wouldn't wanna bounce or energetic skipping, am gonna invest in a toner i think.

not looking after myself, dh bringing chocolate home every evening, no exercise, (does walking to town for a coffee count?) that is where I am going wrong.

Sometimes I long for my sz 10's, other days couldn't care less. Dh loves me whatever, bless him.

[OrmIrian]

I've only had 3 (only!) and whilst I went through a phase of being quite big and flabby and pretending that I didn't care. Now I am slimmer and fitter than I've ever been. However facially I am a little..erm...worn. And my boobs have almost disappeared after stopping bfing after 11 years. I think my babies have eaten them . They are slightly less firm than they might have been but as they are so teeny now they can't sag very far. Pelvic floor is OK - I can jump on the trampoline with a full bladder usually.

It didn't matter for a long time and I enjoyed that time. But there did come a point when just being mummy stopped beinh enough and I took myself in hand.

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

zola all those ills will rectify by 6 months

i have had 5 - pg with nmber6 - all big 8 and a half pounders and the first did the most damage to my body

i use oils and stuff when pg and generally gain -2-3 stone which i lose most of

booobs i wear a bra all the time (ashamed) day and night and boobs are fine although got stretch marked after db1

oherwise only a couple of odd stretch marks on abdomen

aside from said stretch marks there is nothing that cannot be rectified

i am annoyed when folk say i 'snap back' because i dont - but nature puts most of it back together after a year or so. I do care though - vanity and a desire to look good in a bikini - do not disappear with subsequent children. no way!

[OrmIrian]

I didn't get any stretchmarks! Which would be be great except that I seem to have got them on my face instead.

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

you wont have omrian - i have never heard of that....aren't they wrinkles??

[OrmIrian]

Yes paula. I think they are

[PaulaYatesBiggestFan]

i doubt it

i have to look at the mirror from a distance since becoming a certain age!

[OrmIrian]

Yes. It was a joke. I know they aren't really stretchmarks.

And I sort of half-close my eyes when I face the mirror these days.

[Divastrop]

who here is on facebook?i just joined this group.

i have loeads of stretchmarks,all from my first 2 pregnancies,mainly because i put so much weight on(nobody told me not to sit around all day eating when i was pregnant with ds1).i do think they are avoidable though.