Tummy Rolls and Shapewear
By: Kylie Tull
Tags: Health, Motherhood, Life, Life Lessons, Parenting

Tummy Rolls and Shapewear

Learning to love my post baby body

Photo by Sean Thomas on Unsplash

I have never been comfortable with my body. As a teen, I was teased for being too thin, yet despite this I was still concerned about sitting down to reveal the barely-there tummy roles which I thought were ugly. I didn’t like the faint blue veins that were evident under my skin and I didn’t like the way I blushed from my head to my chest. I also didn’t like my frizzy hair and giant feet. There was just so many things I didn’t like about myself and my body and these feelings remained as I grew.

As I look back now I can’t believe I was so hard on my poor body during those years of my life. I look at photos of myself as a 19–23 year old and realise that I actually had a fantastic figure. What the hell was my problem? If I looked like that now I would never wear clothes again! Ok, so I am joking but I really do regret not appreciating the body I had across those years because it certainly looks very different now.

When I had my first child, my body changed dramatically overnight. I recall meeting with a physiotherapist the day after giving birth and I asked her if the skin on my tummy would eventually return to normal. Her reply?

‘Honey, your two-piece swimsuit days are certainly over.’

Ouch!!

She had no idea how deep those words cut and as a young mum I became paranoid about keeping my stomach area hidden from the world. This was particularly difficult with a breastfeeding baby and so nursing singlets became my best friend. God forbid I should lift up my top and someone see my flabby, wrinkly baby belly that I was so ashamed of. As three more babies followed, my tummy certainly didn’t return to its firm pre-baby state.

One day I discovered shapewear. I thought this an ingenious creation and stocked my cupboards full of the giant undies that sucked my gut in and smoothed my shape. The problem with this is that I grew even less comfortable with my tummy flab because with the shapewear keeping it nicely hidden, I was afraid that if I didn’t wear them then people would think I had suddenly gained a ton of weight and be surprised at how big my belly had become. The end result? I wore shapewear every single day (and admittedly still do).

The thing that now begun troubling me is that I have an absolutely gorgeous 8 year old daughter who I know looks up to me. She watches me doing my make up in the morning and seems me putting on my giant undies.

‘Why do you wear two pairs of knickers?’ she has asked, and I dismissed her question not wanting to explain that the second pair is designed to hide the true shape of my body.

I have become acutely aware that I am likely sending negative messages to my beautiful daughter about what a body should look like. I want her to know that her body is beautiful and she shouldn’t be ashamed of it. I have realised that to teach my daughter to love her body, I would need to set an example by loving mine.

I completely admit that I am not there yet in my journey of self-acceptance but I am certainly making small steps in the right direction. I am making an effort to put on a pair of swimmers and enjoy the pool with my kids instead of sitting on the side watching. I am making an effort to talk positively about myself and my body in front of my children. I am trying to stop myself from commenting about diets and calories and instead focus on being healthy and active.

My biggest hope is that my daughter will see my new, kinder attitude towards myself and realise that if her mum can be proud of her body — saggy tummy and all — then she should be proud of her body too.

Why not check out my Facebook and Instagram pages, titled The Write Book.

https://www.instagram.com/the_write_book/

https://m.facebook.com/livelovereadwrite/?ref=content_filter