Being a new mom is hard, and the pressure to "bounce back" to your prepregnancy size makes things even harder. Country star Jessie James Decker, a mom of three, completely gets it. She wants moms everywhere to know that it's all gonna be OK.
Jessie recently penned an encouraging post on Instagram about why moms should have realistic expectations about their postpartum bodies.
"I know you’ll see a lot of people in the public eye and they drop weight in what seems like five minutes after having a baby and I think we all feel like we should live up to those expectations," she wrote.
But "bouncing back" when your baby is a week old is simply not the case for most people, nor should it be the goal, Jessie says. It's a message that many moms very much needed to hear.
Jessie gave birth to her youngest baby, Forrest, in March 2018.
Jessie James Decker and her husband Eric Decker have been married since 2013. They have three kids together: Vivianne, 4; Eric Thomas, 3; and Forrest, 10 months.
As a mom who gave birth to three babies in five years, Jessie knows a thing or two about the struggle to adjust to your new, post-baby body.
It's one of the most difficult parts of becoming a mom.
Recently, Jessie uploaded a side-by-side photo to Instagram. The first photo shows how she looked after having her baby, and the second photo is a recent picture.
In the caption, Jessie opened up about why women need to have more realistic expectations about their bodies after birth.
"I know you’ll see a lot of people in the public eye and they drop weight in what seems like five minutes after having a baby and I think we all feel like we should live up to those expectations," she began.
She continued, "I’ve even been guilty of that myself and thinking I need to rush and lose weight two months after having a baby when I see all these skinny girls post baby but that is just not realistic for the majority of us."
Jessie went on to explain how her metabolism, body, and self-esteem changed after having children, writing: "I have been every shape and size over the last 4 1/2 years from having children and never had to worry about losing weight until I had kids. I had good metabolism and had always been that way before."
"Having children definitely changed everything and I’m so blessed and grateful to have my babies as y’all know but it definitely can test your self-esteem when you are used to looking and feeling a certain way," she said.
Let's be real — Jessie looks great in both the before and after photos! But it's hard to adjust to a new body shape and size, regardless of how great you look.
"I just don’t honestly think about it. As soon as I had kids… Whenever they’re babies like that, you just don’t think about it… I mean, I don’t personally because it’s not a priority," she explained.
She continued: “My priority is to take care of them and feed them and get as much sleep as possible. It’s just my mindset doesn’t go there. I just, why bother?"
"Your body is trying to just come back together from just having a human being taken out of [it]… You’ve got to have some time to heal," she continued.
Jessie has also debunked the myth that breastfeeding helps moms lose weight. That myth adds even more unnecessary pressure to new moms, who think that not only do they have to lose weight, but that it should be easy and quick. The opposite was true for Jessie.
"When I’m nursing, I’m not anymore, but when I am, I don’t lose weight very well,” she told Us Weekly in January. “I’m holding on to, you know, extra fat on my body to produce milk for [the baby].”
In the end, Jessie just wants moms to put less pressure on themselves to look a certain way on a certain timeline.
She explained, "My goal now as far as my body goes is to be healthy and happy and fit not 'skinny' just fit and healthy and the best version of myself."
