Confidently Katie

The Truth About My Postpartum Body

Before I wrote this post I looked up the definition of postpartum.  I thought…can I actually consider myself “postpartum” if my child is nearly two?  Obviously I decided that I could still be considered postpartum especially as I am writing the affects that carrying, bearing, and feeding my child has had on my body and on my confidence.

Let me start by saying there are a lot of posts out there about loving your postpartum body embracing it as it is and getting used to the stretch marks, excess weight, and slowed fitness progress…but this ain’t one of them. I’m about to share the cold hard truth about how I feel about my body since it gave birth to my perfect little girl nearly two years ago.

I hate it. 

Hate is a really strong word, I know. And mom’s aren’t supposed to say things like that.  They’re supposed to look at their body and the mirror and say well it’s okay because I had a baby and this is my body now  OR they’re supposed to  “bounce back” and return to their thin selves.  After all, they worked out their whole pregnancy, it won’t be tough to return to their former figure.

That’s not me. 

Before I got pregnant I was consistently weighing in around 110 lbs. That wasn’t something I tried to do, it was just how much I weighed. I had always been a thin girl.  Everyone alway felt the need to comment about how “skinny” I was, but when I got pregnant that all changed…

Through out my pregnancy I hardly worked out at all.  I ate taco bell every weekday for almost a whole trimester.  And after I delivered, the REAL cravings started while I was breast feeding. Which, by the way, was one of the most stressful things I had ever experienced so of course, I had to stress eat. Don’t all breastfeeding moms eat whole tubs of mint chocolate chip icecream in one sitting? To top it off, during maternity leave I was basically just sitting at home on my couch for 6 weeks hardly doing anything.

Cue postpartum weight gain.

It didn’t help that Instagram, other moms, and old freaking wives tales gave me super unrealistic expectations. I thought that after I had Clara that all that pregnancy weight would just fall off.  I thought that Breastfeeding would burn a million calories a day like everyone told me it would and I’d look like a Victoria Secret model.

Wrong. 

Oh so very wrong.

So here I sit, at about 137 lbs, just hating the skin I’m in. I’ve failed at every nutrition plan I’ve attempted to implement.  I’ve slept through 90% of the early morning alarms to go to the gym.  I’ve taken “before progress pictures” 4 or 5 times that have no afters.  No “progress” to speak of.  People say things like “We make time for things that are important to us” or “Why don’t you just (insert seemingly simple plan here)?”  Or I’ll spend some money on programs and trainers and food I think that it’s money well spent and then I just fail to execute and it’s a waste.

I don’t know why I haven’t been able to do it. I don’t know why I can’t be okay with how I look.  I don’t know why all those other women lost weight from breastfeeding when it made me gain it.  I don’t know why some people can just dig in and transform their bodies and others struggle.  I don’t know why I hate what I see in the mirror.

I know that real progress takes time.  I know that not everyone reacts to pregnancy the same way. I know that consistency is key. I know that no one, not even Corey cares about what I look like.  And I KNOW that I’m not the only one out there who feels this way.

If you’ve had a baby (hell even if you had a baby 6 years ago) and you’re feeling like me PLEASE drop me a comment because I NEED ya’ll to keep me going over here. I need to know that I’m not the only one.

I Tried Fabletics and This is What Happened

A few months ago, I started getting serious about my work out routine.  Being in the military it’s my job to be in shape, but my postpartum body has been struggling with it.   Believe it or not, a huge part of my struggle was that I didn’t have a lot of  work out clothes that fit me well enough to work out in.  Enter Fabletics.

I had seen the ads over and over and I decided that I wanted to give it a shot. If you’re considering giving Fabletics a shot, check out this post…

What is Fabletics?

Fabletics is an online athletic wear shop.  Or so it seems.  It’s actually an athletic wear subscription site although it really doesn’t look like it on the surface.  In fact, I didn’t even know it was until well after I made my first purchase. When you’re creating your VIP account, there are no disclaimers that pop up that tell you that your card will be charged monthly and you have to physically click on “how it works” for this to be explained.  Even then, the explanation is more than half way down the page.

The VIP membership charges your card $50 every month unless you cancel it.  Before I wrote this post, I checked my bank account, and I’ll be damned, I was charged that $50 for an outfit. I didn’t even know.  I attribute this to a few things:

  1. I made my purchase on my phone.  There were no pop ups that explained this and when I was putting in my card information, it appeared to be for only that purchase.
  2. I didn’t receive any outfits, so even when I had figured out that it was a subscription site I figured that because I hadn’t gotten any outfits, it must not have subscribed me.  I did it right.

Wrong.

You have to go on the site and opt out by the 5th of the month if you want to “skip” that month and not be charged. And canceling cannot be done on the site. You have to make a phone call or start a live chat (I tried the live chat option and the people didn’t respond fast enough and I had to leave). Never the less, I made the purchase and tried the products.

 

The Buying Experience

It was pretty easy to choose the outfits that I wanted.  It was the same as any e-commerce site.  You select what you want and add it to your cart.  Once I got to check out though, I had to try 5 or 6 times to actually make the purchase.  The point of sale system wasn’t working right and I had to start over 3 times.  I almost canceled my transaction I was so frustrated. Eventually though, I was able to check out and my outfits were on their way.

Shipping and packaging

My outfits came in inexpensive clear packaging and it took the full 10 business days to receive them.  At one point I got an email that said it would take a little longer to get my outfits.  Then I actually forgot that I had ordered them until they came.  This isn’t a huge complaint though.  I’m not the type to pay extra for faster shipping so waiting a while comes with the territory.

The Fit

I set up my profile as a M size 8 which is what consistent with most of my currently clothes which some exceptions.  I read a few articles about the fit of Fabletics and most things said that they were true to size, so I went with this.

My gray pants fit perfectly, but the bra was a little bit awkward.  The elastic on the bottom is very wide and the fit was a little bit different than I was used to, but after I wore it for a while it grew on me.

The flower outfit fit pretty well and was very comfortable. I think I ordered the right size for this.  It seems that different outfits may be from different manufacturers, so the fit may not always be quite perfect, however that’s true with most online retailers.

I think the most important thing to mention about the fit though is that I felt so confident in these.  I’m not super thin and I often feel self conscious when I’m showing off more than I’m used to, but I didn’t feel that way in these.  I actual went outside to take photos in them because I felt quite good about myself.

The Quality

In general I’d say the quality is an 8 out of 10.

I have only worn the flower shorts twice and they look like they’re pulling a little at the seam in the crotch, and it’s wearing a hole. However this could very well be because of the size.  Maybe I need a slightly larger bottom for these.

I’d say the quality was pretty okay for what I ordered.

The Price Tag

The total cost ended up being $57.67 after tax and shipping.  I think it was fairly reasonable for two outfits at fairly good quality.  I can justify paying nearly $60 for it. I’ll more than likely end up making at least 1 more purchase.  I have a credit for another outfit because I didn’t know it was a subscription…

Overall Impression

Pros: Pricing was fair and I did like the products I purchased.  They are definitely stylish and with the athletic wear trends of week.  I’d say the biggest pro is that I felt great in both of these outfits.  They put me a little bit outside of my comfort zone and it really seemed to work out well for me.  I should also note that I did work out in them and they performed well there too.

Cons: The site isn’t clear about what you’re signing up for.  I intended to only make one purchase and ended paying another $50 by accident. I just ordered another outfit to take advantage of my accidental subscribing…

Overall, I won’t keep the subscription, because I don’t need $50 worth of work out clothes every month, but I might pop in from time to time and buy some very stylish work out gear.