Postpartum bodies are beautiful. Yep, that’s right, the stretch marks, wrinkles, and extra skin are memories of the miracle that mama’s body performed. That’s the message influencer Natalee Jorge-Martin is trying to spread, even though she admits it’s not always easy to love her body after her pregnancy—specifically one part.
“When my husband took it my first words were ‘OMG DELETE THAT NOW!’” Jorge-Martin wrote in a recent Instagram post. “You see, this photo highlights so many things that are deemed ‘wrong’ with the postpartum body.”
She lists “stretch marks, loose skin, and a big, round belly” as things she feels she shouldn’t have. But to her surprise, none of that bothers her. What she says she’s self-conscious of is the “giant, sagging bulge of fat that hangs off of my midsection.”
Jorge-Martin went on to share how that insecurity infiltrated her brain. “The ‘mom pouch’ that makes all other mom pouches look like an ad for the perfect body. The mom pouch that I always hide behind high waisted bottoms,” she wrote. “The mom pouch that made me hate myself for several months postpartum.”
She explained that this photo reminds her of the hate she had for her new body before she learned to love it—a time that’s hard for her to think back on.
“Becoming a mother helped me realize that I am made of magic and no matter what I look like on the outside,” Jorge-Martin wrote. “I am worthy and beautiful. We all are.”
Don’t get her wrong; she didn’t just wake up one morning full of self-love. She’s made a lot progress on her journey, but she still has her own obstacles, including embracing her lower belly.
“I wish it wasn’t so saggy and maybe just a tad smaller, but I no longer hate myself because of it,” Jorge-Martin wrote. “I no longer look in the mirror and call myself names or try to push it in so it won’t sag down as much. I am no longer defined by that damn pouch. It doesn’t hold me back anymore or make me feel inferior.”
She said she’s realized her mom pouch is as much a part of her as her arms, legs, and other body areas she would never imagine wanting to get rid of. Hating her stomach would mean hating a part of her, she said, and that just won’t fly.
“Once you go down that road towards self-love, you realize that although you may have bad days, you are still worthy of all the love and magic in this world,” she wrote.
Body positivity doesn’t have to mean you never want to change a single aspect of your appearance. It’s perfectly fine to have goals you want to work on. But like Jorge-Martin is showing us, it’s crucial that we don’t let our insecurities take over and fill our minds with negativity.
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