Friday, December 13, 2013

On Postpartum Body Image

I just got back from my first shopping trip specifically for clothes since having the baby. I have to say it felt pretty good to pick out items that weren't maternity or nursing specific. When looking at the mirror however, I've still got a ways to go before getting back to my pre baby size. But I think I've done a pretty good job at being realistic with where I am and not getting too caught up with the extra flib flab here and there.

For one thing, I'm almost exclusively breast feeding (we started baby on some rice cereal for practice). Nursing is the true "eating for two", you need to consume around 500 extra calories a day to keep your supply up especially the first couple months. Along with that comes the added responsibility of eating the right things since whatever I eat my baby eats. If I ever forget to take my multivitamin I feel like I got hit by a truck so I'm sure if I started eating less nutritious food I'd feel even worse.

It's more important right now that my baby gets fed, so I don't want to take anything out of my diet that might affect my supply unless it was something that my baby was having trouble digesting. For now I'm still eating dairy and gluten, which I had previously eliminated from my diet with great but really drastic results (I lost something like 30 pounds in 2 months). Those are two of the most common foods that could cause digestive problems for babies, but we've been lucky and haven't had any issues on that front. 

I could make more time for fitness, but since I'm not working out as much as I should I'm also not lamenting that I don't have chiseled arms or abs. I'm not the 5 hours a day at the gym type, but I'll work on trying to fit in at least 30 minutes a day.

Being realistic and keeping your baby's nutrition in mind is probably the best way to filter anything you might get from entertainment news, or even a comment from a well meaning loved one (*cough* grandma *cough*). As long as baby is gaining well, it's better to keep on doing what you're doing.

I'm raising a daughter and I want her to have love and respect for her body. She won't develop that if I pick at all the flaws I see with my body.

It's important to remember that my body created a human being! That's pretty incredible! It took nine months to put together all those bones and muscles and organs and my body had to change a whole lot to make that happened. Right now it's making food for my baby to eat, so it's not going to be in default mode until she's completely weaned.

My goal is to be back to my pre baby size by my daughter's 1st birthday. It's totally doable, but I won't sweat it if I'm not exactly where I was this time a year ago.

Today on the Liturgical Calendar:

Today is the feast of Saint Lucy! It's most famous celebration is probably in the Scandinavian countries where traditionally a girl wearing a wreath of candles leads a procession.

I haven't planned any special meals for today, but the name Lucy comes from the latin for light so I'll be admiring the lights on the tree. She's also the patron saint of the blind and those with vision problems, so I'll be praying for an improvement in my prescription and saying a prayer for my niece, also named Lucy.

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