Do Transformation Challenges Send The Wrong Message To New Moms?
It’s the holiday season and I love this time of year. I love the time with my family, the tree, the presents (yep, I love seeing my tear into those things!) but most importantly, I love the food. What I don’t love is however, is being made to
feel ashamed because I enjoyed an extra piece of pumpkin pie or some of my husband’s grandmothers homemade tarts. Those tarts are worth every bite!
As humans, we use food to celebrate. For thousands of years, humans would gather and eat these massive feasts and why the hell not??
Aren’t we celebrating something amazing this time of year?
When did food become such a sin?
OK, now I’m getting angry because when I think how this is used against us, it makes me freaking sick! This is the time of year where the diet and fitness industry really starts to come at us. This is where their marketing gets downright awful, because...we now need them to lose the weight.
Did you know that the average person puts on 10-15 pounds during the holidays? That’s what they tell us and that’s what they say we should feel embarrassed about. That’s right, we should feel shitty because we had a good freaking time!
Wanna know what else gets under my skin?
Apparently this marketing is amped right up over the holidays and they really hone in on the new mom. I mean, they dig deep and they twist that knife. My other favourite part, they use self-care to do it!
“Transform your new mom body because that’s self-care”
“Make the resolution this holiday season and do this 30 day transformation whatever”
“You just had a baby now it’s time to get back into shape. Ignore the physical, emotional and physiological changes that your body has been going through for the last year and a half and go kill yourself with diet and exercise #noexcuses”
I’m totally being sarcastic, but seriously??
Do these people not realize that motherhood is a transformation in itself?
Do they not realize that this isn’t just a physical transformation?
Do they not realize that new moms are at the most vulnerable place in their lives and maxed out?
Do they even care?
What they fail to understand is that we are already transformed. We don’t need anything else to transform us.
To you my dear mom, eff the programs that tell you that you can’t enjoy the holidays and if you do, work your ass off to set things right. Forget the programs that require you to perfectly portion out your meals and jump around your living room. Those will do you more harm in the long run anyway.
Enjoy your holiday and eat what you want. If you do gain 10 pounds, it just means that you have a great time.
If you do feel a bit guilty. That’s okay. Give yourself a little compassion and love yourself anyway. No one is perfect and no body is perfect.
Love your baby body,
Terrell
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