Pregnancy Perspective

Yesterday when I was looking through old photos on my iPad, I found some pictures of me from the summer. I had an interesting perspective when I was looking through some of them and it occurred to me: “Why was I so critical of the way I looked before getting pregnant?” The two photos that I will share, I appear very tiny, but I’m sure back then when the photo was originally taken I criticized myself for not being “fit” or “skinny” enough. Well, let me tell you something…I was beyond ridiculous. Now that I’m pregnant and clearly putting on weight, it has occurred to me that I really need to chill out when it comes to my obsession and need to be skinny and fit. I am always so hard on myself, and I’m literally ashamed of how mean I was to myself up until I got pregnant. I looked fit, and I was in the best shape of my life. Interesting how pregnancy puts certain things into perspective. My advice to those women who also struggle with body image: be easy on yourself. Just the fact that you’re watching what you eat and working out is enough to give yourself a pat on the back. Be proud of your body, and just live a little. I can tell you that when I was really into working out and watching what I was eating, it was an unhealthy obsession. I’m wasn’t taking care of my body like I should have, and I was miserable most of the time. The urge to be fit can be fun, yet challenging. Be nice to yourself. When this pregnancy is done, my goal it to look like I did in those photos from the summer. What better goal is that than to want to look the way I did last summer? I think that’s a pretty fair goal.  Challenge accepted.