Celebrating bumps and curves

Recently I saw stuff about Jennifer Garner and her baby bump.
Jennifer Garner admits she has a baby bump but is not pregnant on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
She’s had three kids and now there is a bump and she says it ain’t going away.
Society as a whole is so obsessed with women and their weight.
Why don’t we talk about men and their bellies? Wow, he musta put down a 6-pack last night and a bag of Doritos! How is he gonna show off his body in that bathing suit next month??!!
In the silly movie, Couples Retreat, all the women are in super amazing (dare I say, unrealistic) shape and the guy’s are a bunch of out of shape slobs. I realize our bodies can’t be perfect, but what message is that sending? This is the best picture I could find of the whole main cast.
Guess what, friends? You can have a “baby bump” and have never even had a baby.
It’s called a big meal, being bloated, stress, water retention, bad posture, a little extra weight on the tummy, etc.
Most of my life I was “skinny.” I seriously hate that word. And then one day I wasn’t and my metabolism changed and over many years I gained weight.
And then after seven years of weight gain I decided I needed to be and feel healthy. So I lost 30 pounds in seven months. But I still struggle to maintain my goal weight.
I have wide hips and a big butt and no matter how much weight I lose those will not go away. And if I am holding a little extra weight it goes to the tummy, hips, butt and thighs.
Weight gain for many women, especially in the tummy, can be because of stress.
This article on the Stress Cortisol Connection does a great job of describing stress hormones and how they work in our bodies. It’s a scientific paper, but it is written well that a laywoman can understand.
I seriously encourage everyone to do some research on cortisol and adrenaline. We are living in a highly-stressed society and we need to find ways to change that (such as Restorative Yoga).
I figured since I left my highly stressful job that the weight would just fall off. I have been so much less stressed, eating healthy and exercising regularly and the weight has slowly lowered (but not at the pace I was hoping for).
And then I went on vacation and ate and drank what I wanted and enjoyed it and now I am back to a healthy routine.
But for myself I need to be patient with my life getting back to healthy. I definitely feel a lot better and shouldn’t fret so much over the weight.
Analyzing whether a woman is pregnant or not is a form of fat shaming and it needs to stop. Who cares if someone is pregnant. Or not. Isn’t that their business?
How would you feel if someone asked you if you were pregnant and you weren’t? Or blasted it all over the Internet?
Let’s celebrate our bumps, curves and anything else our bodies come with.