Mother of 2 got more than she bargained for-in a good way-when she shared her bikini photo..The bikini above of 32 year old mom of 3, Rachel Hollis, has gone viral on Facebook with over 400K likes and tens of millions of views. And yet she was only trying to encourage other moms to own their flabby tummys and not be ashamed to show it off. Rachel's children are aged 8, 6 and 2 and it was during one of their few family vacations that her husband took the picture. She shared the photo on Facebook and wrote:
I
have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that's
permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and I wear a bikini.
My belly button is saggy... (which is something I didn't even know was
possible before!!) and I wear a bikini. I wear a bikini because I'm
proud of this body and every mark on it. Those marks prove that I was
blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy
means I worked hard to lose what weight I could. I wear a bikini
because the only man who's opinion matters knows what I went through to
look this way. That same man says he's never seen anything sexier than
my body, marks and all. They aren't scars ladies, they're stripes and
you've earned them. Flaunt that body with pride! #HollisHoliday
She never knew the amount of confidence her photo will give to other women especially mums, read a few sweet responses to her photo from other women:
Amanda Gongloff: You
have no idea of how empowering your words are to someone as myself. I
gave birth to my last baby (my third son) 6 months ago. I have many
stretch marks... and my confidence has plummeted. Reading this has made
me realize how im seeing everything in the wrong way... THANK YOU! I
BELIEVE YOUVE GIVEN ME A CERTAIN BOOST I NEEDED TO HELP BEGIN THE
PROCESS OF REGAINING MY SELF CONFIDENCE.
Jessica A. Frye: A really dear friend also has three BIG babies on her tiny frame. She has always naturally been extremely thin and after her third the skin that sagged and the stretch marks on her lower tummy bothered her so much. She got very depressed( mean while I'm think I've had stretch marks since I went thru puberty lol get over it!) but one day I gave her a "mini makeover" before we went out. The top she wore showed barely an inch of skin when she would raise her arms and she was so ashamed to even show her husband how she looked. What he said will forever be with me when I start feeling down about myself....as he walked up to her and lifted the top to expose her belly (she was mortified) he places his hands on her sides looked directly at her and said " those are the most beautiful things about you now....everytime
I look at your body I fall more in love with you for what all this means. It means you sacrificed yourself your dignity your body for MY CHILDREN....so that I can wake up every day and be blessed with unconditional love from those three....you truly are the most amazing woman I have ever seen".....just retelling this I get tears and I smile....cause I KNOW someone out there will love me...every inch of me....
Flo Magna: Thank you these words have hit home for me too!!! I've had four children and lots of stretch marks!! Loved wearing my bikinis until a year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with cancer! This past year I've had six surgeries all on my abdominal area. Radiaton and chemo put me off of having or enjoying a summer last year!! I'm praying for some good news soon! I want to wear my bikinis again, I want to shout I've had four children and survived cancer!!!!! My motto is going to be don't like don't look!!!!!! Strength in numbers ladies!! God bless!
Mums who are battling with a myriad of body issues like flabby tummy, stretch marks, etc, after giving birth, will understand how tough it can be to gain your body confidence back...Plus the pressure society puts on mothers to have a banging perfect body right after childbirth, so its refreshing to see this..thumbs up to her! She looks really fab abeg!
Too much pressure to look a certain way is killing women of all ages and backgrounds all over the world
ReplyDeleteEven Nigerian women who are naturallY blessed with curves are killing themselves to become stick thin beanpoles.
What is even wrong with this woman's figure anyway?
I even thought I'd see someone bigger than Gabourey Sidibe when I clicked on the post.
SMH!
Vanity upon vanity upon VANITY upon V-A-N-I-T-Y!
honestly!body image is such a thorny issue in this day and age and i cant figure what what happened to admiring the shape and size of our mothers?a woman will give birth today and net hour she's wearing body shaper abi waist trainer?is it a crime to have a big tummy where a full grown child lived for 9 f***ing months?women what happened to being normal and having self confidence? And what happened to admiring ur wives and mothers to ur kids? i rest my case
Deletelol@gabourey sidibe comment, i hope society doesn't put pressure on her eventually to go under the knife cos she's really big and ontop of that she aint fine but i looove her!
Deletehian Matty this woman is a model na compared to me and na only ONE pikin i get...omugwo tinz...lol
ReplyDeleteif this woman's beautiful flabby body went viral and generated such emotional responses from other women then it shows how low society has generated.we are in trouble. I worry for our children.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have three lovely kids and I think my boobs and tummy are now flabby but what marvels me is that my hubby still thinks I'm sexy and can't keep his hands off me. We are our own worse critics.
ReplyDeleteExactly! well said.. It's grt to look good wit good food, exercise & all. & for a working mum pls look grt always for ur own confidence & poise. But let's NOT idolise this things.
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