By the time my baby turned 18 months old, my body looked and felt different. I was about 20 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. However, the timing and how that weight showed up were what surprised me most. It didn’t come during the early postpartum fog. Back then, I was running on fumes, barely eating full meals between nursing, pumping and surviving sleepless nights. In that chaos, I actually lost weight.
Once things started to settle and I was finally sleeping, eating full meals again, and slowly feeling more like myself, my body softened. With that came a whole mix of emotions.
Halle Bailey and Embracing the Postpartum Evolution
Recently, Halle Bailey opened up about this shift in a way that really hit home. In a Snapchat Q&A, she shared how her postpartum body feels different and how she’s learning to embrace that change.
“I feel like eating meat during and after pregnancy has really given me my grown woman body finally, lol,” Bailey told her followers.
This candid moment marked a shift from her earlier reflections, when she told Entertainment Tonight, “The only thing that’s been hard for me is feeling normal in my own body. I feel like a completely different person when I look in the mirror. I just feel like I’m in a whole new body, and I don’t know who I am.”
That contrast says a lot. In just a few months, her perspective evolved from disconnected and unsure to something more grounded, even if she still has fitness goals. She mentioned wanting her “body to be right” for an upcoming project, but it’s clear she’s speaking from a place of peace. That’s not only powerful. It’s liberating.
Pushing Back on the “Snapback” Narrative
There’s this quiet, persistent expectation that once life starts to “normalize” after having a baby, your body should bounce back, too. That as soon as you fall into a rhythm, your waistline should follow. But for me, the opposite happened.
When I finally exhaled, rebalanced, and found my footing, my body changed again. My chest stayed fuller, my hips widened, and the curves I thought would fade, deepened. I won’t lie and say I love it every day. But I also don’t hate it. I don’t think my pre-pregnancy self would’ve imagined that as a reality.
We live in a world that glamorizes the “snapback”—this unrealistic rush to return to our pre-baby selves. But what if we’re not meant to go back? What if motherhood evolves us so deeply that our bodies are supposed to reflect that transformation?
Honoring My Grown Woman Body
I’m 38 years old. My body has carried life, fed life, and now sustains me in ways I didn’t expect. This body isn’t something to fix. I believe it’s something to honor.
Yes, I gained weight when I got my life back. But maybe that’s the point. Reclaiming my life meant I finally had the space to take up more room in it.
To any other mom feeling unsure about the body that came after the baby, especially if it doesn’t fit the “bounce back” narrative, just know this: You don’t have to go backward. You get to grow forward. You can strive for something different and still be at peace with where you are now.
This body is a result of a wild, magical journey. And that in itself is beautiful.