To start a thread for moral support! Hate the state of my body post baby

[GreyPound]

Feeling pretty low about this! I had my DS 7 months ago and I just cannot summon the energy to get back into shape.

I look terrible, tired all the time, dry frizzy hair, huge arms and thighs, up 3 dress sizes than I was before. Before DS was born I was in quite good shape, never been one for the gym really but I ate well and had done a lot of walking more recently which led to quite a big weight loss and I felt good about myself for the first time in my adult life, then I got pregnant and I feel like I'm back at square one.

Through pregnancy and since I have put it all back on and then some. I've joined the gym but have no motivation or energy to go, food feels like I just grab whatever is easiest (and typically least healthy) during a quiet moment with DS.

Now he's getting a bit older I think I may try and get back into my walking and get one of those hiking backpacks for him. I just need the energy and more sleep 🥴

Anyone want to join and give each other a bit of a spur on?

All I want to do is mope in my PJs eating cake 🤣 but I'm so unhappy with myself I need to get cracking.

Can you not just push the pram instead of a backpack? I walked miles and miles with non sleeping dts. Do it before the weather turns.

I’m with you! My DS is 4 months and I’m desperate to lose some of the baby weight. Every time I summon up the energy to go for a nice long walk with the pram I end up spoiling it all by bingeing on biscuits afterwards 😂 I’m just sooo hungry all the time these days!!

Absolutely am with you - 3 month old, 2 year old and 5 year old and I seem to barely have time to get dressed, let alone plan any meals or do any exercise. Stomach muscles and pelvic floor completely fucked by pregnancies (diastasis recti and C-section), I genuinely look 8 months pregnant without the lovely glow, my hair is dry and huge, skin is awful and my arms are so big even my bigger maternity tops cut into them. Total mess.

I actually feel a bit better for getting that out.

Walking sounds good OP, it's about all I can do. Do you have any plans food wise?

It's only been 7 months! Cut yourself some slack! My baby is 11 months and I'm not even worrying about my weight until I've stopped breastfeeding her and my hormones have levelled back out. Plus you're not going to have the energy for exercise until she's sleeping well.

You've got plenty of time to get back in shape - focus on your lovely tiny baby for now.

Bleargh. I hear you! I vote for treating yourself to some really nice healthy snacks instead of cake, fancy hummus, nice fruit, good cereals, yoghurt snd honey etc. Buy some comfy, practical clothes that fit you now so you feel good about how you look. Get your hair cut and a manicure if you're into that. And take the Pram our for a walk while listening to a good podcast. Looking after yourself is so hard after kids I find, there is always something someone else needs done. Put yourself at the top of the pile a couple of times!

Totally hear you. DS is 7 months old, my entire body looks like pudding and I’ve never felt so awful about my appearance in my life. Have decided that no matter how much walking I do with the pram and dogs, I have to stop overeating. Starting on Monday

Yes three month old and two year old here. Gained so so much weight on this one it’s awful. My hair is also in bits and my belly is gigantic. Really lost all my confidence this time as last time the baby weight fell off after the baby was born.
Planning to start to jog every second day from next week and lift weights on alternate days!!! I don’t mind if it takes time just once it comes off within say a year! I’m obese on the bmi scale now so I know I’m unhealthy and need to change!!!

Agree with @AllAroundTheWorldYeah that you all need to cut yourself some slack and wait until your baby is a year old as a minimum. Until your child is sleeping properly so you can sleep properly yourself anything you do won't really work.

I’m with you! Today a lady cooing over 6 month old baby asked when I was due the next one…awks!

Ugh I need this thread I feel like my belly looks worse than when I was pregnant. Completely wobbly. I’ve done loads of walking and not really over eaten but clearly still eating too much as weight is not falling off like it did last time!

100% wait. I can remember really beating myself up about my first around a similar time.. I was snacking sugary treats morning noon and night for energy because I was so tired from night shifts. They are also attached to you most of the time. I started to feel completely different after a year and could focus more on myself! Give yourself time.. pregnant again now and am fully prepared for the emotional bashing I will give myself but I’m going to take the pressure off! Much better now it’s winter too!

Sigh…I feel the same. My dd is nearly 5 months and I just can’t face doing anything active. I don’t snack much but my meals are rubbish. I’m hoping now the other two dc are starting back at school I’ll have more time to make a healthier lunch. Ds is autistic so our meals normally revolve around his sensory needs. I’ve never lost weight easily. The first couple of months of breastfeeding made the weight drop off and I was eating more then. As soon as I stopped…it went right up! I’ve ordered a resistance band so I’m hoping I have some motivation to do a workout dvd in the mornings.

I feel this way too. Pre-kids I was an effortless size 10, but now after this baby feel very low in confidence. I don't mind being bigger sometimes but don't have anything that fits and don't know what suits me. With my big BFing boobs and belly I look pregnant too at 5 months PP. And seem surrounded by women who drop the weight so quickly after birth!

I generally start the day off well and then mid to late afternoon I start to eat chocolate

With you !!!!

I have 3 all under 5 and although I love my new chunky thighs (always had awfully skinny legs) but I do do do hate all the loose skin Iv been left with on my belly.... won't go due to stretch marks either

@Calamityhuman

I generally start the day off well and then mid to late afternoon I start to eat chocolate

That's because you be are tired.

@RedMarauder

Yes it is because I’m tired. Problem is if this one is anything like my eldest I’ll be tired for the next 5 years 🤣

My baby is only 9 weeks but I’ve actually put on weight since giving birth as I can’t stop eating!

My bum seems to have lost its perkiness too, it’s like a sad little pancake now so all my jeans make me look droopy and rubbish. Can’t wear my favourite dresses as they’re not BF friendly/my little belly pouch probably wouldn’t allow it anyway.

I need to pamper myself a bit but we’ve just moved to a new area so I don’t have a hairdresser or manicurist yet - first world problems but I don’t feel like me at all at the moment!

It's not my size that's bothering me so much. Itsthe fact I seem to have severe diastasis recti leaving me with a big pot belly but a huge dip in the middle around my belly button. It looks awful. I'm 6 weeks pp and have been doing small excercises. It's still early days, but wouldn't it be nice for our bodies didn't leave us feeling so shit.

1. All of you have such young babies, it's normal to feel tired and want to eat shit all the time. At this point, the best changes to make are small changes. Walk more if you can and change from eating sugary snacks to higher protein meals, so you feel more satisfied.

1. Honestly, avoid body positivity bullshit. While obsessing about getting back in shape when you have a very young baby isn't mentally healthy. I honestly believe that getting too enmeshed in 'loving you tiger strips' isn't healthy either. It's defeatist and for me and for a lot of people I know, made us much more unhappy in the long run. Yes, there is likely to be some pregnancy damage that you can't change, that you will have to learn to accept and live with. I have excess skin and scarring all over my belly area. I can't change that. But I still had huge amounts of power to improve how I look and feel about myself.

1. As your babies get older, you need to think about making sustainable lifestyle choices. I lost weight when my DS was 10mo and kept it off for about a year and a half but as he breastfed less and I went back to snacking, I put it all back on and then some. I was into obese territory by the time he was 5. I lost all that weight again, by being really strict about my diet. But was lucky enough to find my sport shortly afterwards because I'd have, at best, spent the rest of my life yo-yoing my weight up and down, getting heavier each time. By finding a way to adapt exercise into my life, I've not only sustained my weightloss but gotten really fit and healthy. My diastisis is better, and while my belly still has lots of extra skin, I have visible abs, that fill in a lot of it. I look athletic and muscular. I'm strong and have excellent endurance. I'm fitter than I've ever been in my life. Tbh, I'm fitter than most people in our society now in my 40s. I'm really genuinely happy with my body. Would I magic away the belly wrinkles and obvious c-section damage if I could? Absolutely. But I'm still much happier with what my body looks like now than I could have imagined being 5 years ago. And far beyond what it looks like, my body can actually do so much that I always fantasised about but never imagined I really could do. I have all these amazing abilities and I just feel like the best is still ahead of me.

So while right now, when you have a young baby, isn't going to be the best time to make huge changes. You can make small changes now, knowing that as motherhood becomes less physically consuming, you still have a body that is going to just amaze you, in so many ways, in the future.