The Mummy Body

I recently posted about being a mum. The way I was ashamed of my body until I realised that it looked the way it did because I have created two beautiful miracles. And like cake. Must admit to the cake.


But just because I am not ashamed of the effects that having children has had on my once size 6 waistline, does not mean that I ooze body confidence. No siree, In fact, I am very self conscious still.

Mr W might not care that I have stretch marks and wobbly bits, but that doesn't mean that I want the world to see them. There is a difference between contentment and confidence - one doesn't necessarily breed the other.

So this year, ahead of our family holiday I made the decision that I would not be wearing a bikini.

This would be my first ever holiday since becoming a teenager that I would wear a swimming costume. So it was a pretty big thing for me. I used to flaunt my flat stomach and pert boobs, running around in a tiny bikini and loving life. But with a mummy tummy and all that goes with that, this is no longer the case.

On top of this, I felt that a regular swimming costume would just accentuate my tum. I tried one on and felt six months pregnant. A bulgy tummy. No.

Surely only old ladies wear tummy control swimwear though, right? Wrong!

Through my blogging adventures I have come across some stunning control swimwear; you wouldn't even know that it is anything other than just a lovely swimsuit. Bright, funky patterns and comfy to wear - I felt pretty amazing.

Whilst on holiday, and after several mojitos I may add, I posted a selfie of myself in one of these swimming costumes. A few hours later after the rum had worn off I was crippled with embarrassment and logged in to Facebook to delete the offending photo, hoping that no one had seen it. Only they had.

I was blown away by the overwhelming kindness and love from friends, family, and people I don't even know all that well. A barrage of wonderful comments and likes. I still felt a bit embarrassed about posting the photo - I was basically in my underwear for goodness sake - but suddenly felt as though it really was acceptable to have my mummy body.

I accepted it some time ago, but now others were telling me that it looked good, that I wasn't a mess. At the risk of sounding a little vain, it was an enormous confidence boost.

We need to stop being so hung up on these ideals of being super skinny, of imperfections being unattractive, of having to look like the models we see in magazines. We are normal women with normal bodies, and airbrushing is just an illusion!

So go out there and love your body. I for one will not be crying into my lettuce and hoping that no one sees.

L xx