This Fitness Blogger Deserves an Award For Her Inspiring Post About Postbaby Bodies

Sometimes you have to your have give yourself a pep talk to remind yourself that your fitness goals don't have to define your life. That's what fitness blogger Alexa Jean Brown did when she candidly opened up about her struggles postpartum and the pressures of getting her former body back.

"My photo isn't the type that is on display as a 'post-baby bod' featured in magazines. Society puts the pressure on many new moms to feel that their post-pregnancy bodies should look identical to their pre-pregnancy bodies," Alexa wrote underneath a collage of her postbaby body uploaded to her personal Instagram account.

"If we're being completely honest, I was completely self conscious to be naked in front of my own husband and I didn't want to be intimate with him."

The new mom, who gave birth to her second daughter just three months ago, said she's already feeling the pressures of getting back to her previous body shape. "Being in front of millions daily, I felt the pressure to get my body back. . . . I have a few more stretch marks, some tummy flab that won't go away. My belly button is even saggy and stretched out (one of the many things no one warns you about). If this is how I feel as a fitness person, I can't even imagine how other moms must feel."

Alexa said her advice to moms everywhere would simply be to not be so hard on themselves. "Give yourself some grace, if you're feeling sad do not go at it alone, talk about it, and lastly own that body," she wrote. "That body created life! Look at your sweet babe and give yourself some credit."

Her photo quickly racked up over 50,000 "likes" on Instagram for its realistic message about the physical and mental changes many moms go through postpregnancy. "No longer can we we keep these things to ourselves and secretly suffer," Brown declared. And we couldn't agree more.