Huge bump! Weight and shame...

[C4SKI]

I’m halfway through my second pregnancy which came very quickly after my first and in all honesty my weight and pregnancy bump never went down after my first. 😞 I already looked 5 months pregnancy even when we found out we were expecting again and I’ve had several comments about it from my family/circle etc which hasn’t helped my self esteem. I now look like I’m ready to pop and we still have several months to go. I’m disgusted and so ashamed of my body and dread when people ask when I’m due which seems to be daily at the moment and I can see their reactions when I say the due date. I had a huge bump with my first but this is out of control. I don’t know how I’ll ever feel human again I just feel like a monster. 😭 Has anyone else experienced this? I had real trouble losing weight while I was b’feeding my first and when he self-weaned at 10 months I never lost the weight. I’m worried the same will happen this time. I did see the doc about possible ab separation but she told me I’m just fat.

Don’t be ashamed, bumps come in all shapes and sizes. My skinny friend was absolutely humungous from very early and was always asked if it was twins. There is nothing much you can do about it at the moment, eat healthily and walk as much as possible then you can think about sorting it after you have recovered from the birth. I’m another one that didn’t lose any weight with that breastfeeding malarkey but I always justified the biscuits because I was feeding them 😀

This makes me sad to see. It’s a lot to be pregnant and to have this weighing on your mind. Please give yourself a break, you’re experiencing the most important thing the body can experience, we have enough to fret about without these worries!

If you want to feel pro active in doing something to get on a better mental space could you try walking or some light weights alongside healthy eating?

Your body is growing another tiny human, there’s plenty of time to focus on your body and getting to a place where you’re happy with it afterwards. Try and ignore the comments from other people - they’re unnecessary, rude and unhelpful. Try and be ‘body neutral’ - not negative, not positive, but simple affirmations such as “this body had brought my child in to the world safely” “this body is growing my second child” etc. Xx

All you can do atm is exercise and try to eat well.

I know how hard it is. I was asked if I was pregnant several times after our twins, I'd gained weight due to depression eating from constant pain from the damage they did to my body (they were 17lb combined at birth). I had diastasis recti after them but repaired that lifting weights in the gym, I didn't start until they were over 2 years old though. A couple of years ago I got my BMI down to 26 started dieting a couple of months before adding in the weightlifting, at booking with this one my BMI was 32 (tut tut). I have kept up with gym sessions but I can't push myself as hard as I used to or lift as heavy, 25+3wk pregnant atm. Once baby is here I will work on it and get back to a comfortable size. I have osteoarthritis so my joints are not happy about my current weight, that's my biggest reason for wanting to get my weight back down after, looks wise I'm not that bothered as it doesn't really matter.

Try not to be hard on yourself. Took me almost 9 years to lose the pregnancy weight I gained with DS (30kg/nearly 5 stone). Just got to a weight i'm sort of ok with, not happy, but ok, and now I had a bfp this morning and I'm dreading put it all back on again.

My second message to my DH this morning after telling him was "I'm going to get fat again! 😭". He just told me that he loves me and that 'it's for a good cause' 😅.

I've made some adjustments to my diet , to try and swap out some of the unhealthier things for filling veg and healthy options and i'll continue to walk my 10,000 steps a day for as long as I can.

You wouldn't say this to your friend so please, please don't say this to yourself. You are much too hard on yourself. None of us know how our bodies are going to react to the biggest physical change we ever go through. You have a lovely baby growing in there ❤️