Moms are Using This Body Positive Hashtag to Share Real Pics of Their Postpartum Bodies
Meghan Boggs is a plus-size blogger determined to help new mothers find confidence in their postpartum bodies. After losing 100 pounds before conceiving her daughter, Maci, she felt disappointed by how her body responded to her pregnancy, and she turned to social media to find other mothers going through the same experience.
“Even though I worked out and ate healthy until I was 36 weeks pregnant, I still gained almost all of my weight back, putting me right back at square one,” she told Babble. “I didn’t have any complications throughout my pregnancy, but I was feeling frustrated with my body for gaining the weight back despite my efforts.”
She began searching Instagram accounts where she found tons of moms showing off their postpartum bodies that looked much like her own. While it was reassuring for her, she was constantly reminded of the lack of representation of different types of mothers' bodies there are in the media.
So she started a now-trending hashtag, #this_is_postpartum, to change the game.
“I wanted mothers to feel less alone and see someone similar to them who they can relate to,” she says. “I wanted this to spread in a way where others would join in, so that the mother out there who was feeling how I felt would open up her Instagram and feel like she can love her postpartum body too.”
Moms now use the hashtag to post photos of and captions about their postpartum experiences to inspire other mothers to keep on keeping on, and to let them know that they're not alone. Here are 10 empowering posts from new mothers.
1. Real Talk: Postpartum Can Be Rough
2. Motherhood Means Learning Curves
3. Any Progress Is Perfect
4. Moms Are Super Heroes
5. Postpartum Is a Precious Time
6. Redefine Motherhood
7. Remember that Your Body Is Beautiful
8. Take Pride in Your Postpartum Body
(Photo via: @thebelmontranchblog)
9. Give Yourself a Break
10. The Postpartum Period Is a Journey
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AnnaMarie Houlis is a multimedia journalist and an adventure aficionado with a keen cultural curiosity and an affinity for solo travel. She's an editor by day and a travel blogger at HerReport.org by night.
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