I have always wanted to be a mom! I’ve dreamed about it for years, thinking of baby names well before Neal entered my life. Getting married made motherhood a little bit more of a reality, as I had found the love of my life and knew that some day we’d want to start a family. What I didn’t anticipate is how I’d feel when the time came to start having children. I didn’t anticipate the fear that would reside in me and how desperate I’d feel to be at my goal weight before getting pregnant.
Although I completely agree that there may never be a “right time” to have children, I couldn’t help but feel like my body was not in the shape I wanted it to be in before having children. I just couldn’t imagine getting pregnant at a weight I was unhappy with.
I struggled with finding peace before pregnancy. I feared that I hadn’t done enough with my months leading up to trying to get pregnant. In an ideal world I would have loved to have gotten pregnant with 20 pounds less on me but I reached a point where I had to stop putting off my life in hopes of being a smaller woman.
I realized that I weighed what I weighed and what mattered most was being as healthy as possible for my baby through diet and exercise. I may not have lost weight prior to getting pregnant but I knew I had created fitness consistency through my 365 Day Fitness Challenge and was eating cleaner foods. I had to realize that I had the power to have a happy and healthy pregnancy, which gave me the peace I needed.
The moment I found out I was pregnant everything changed. What I ate had a completely different meaning. Food became less about the taste and enjoyment and more about the nutrients it would provide my growing baby. No longer did I think about weight loss, instead I focused on being the best mom I could be!
Finding peace before pregnancy can be really difficult if you’re overweight or unhappy with your health, but I think it’s important to reach a place where you realize you’ve done what you can and it’s now time to trust your body.
