Fitness Star Shares Honest After-Birth Stomach Photo

The famous fitness guru Alexa Jean Brown posted an atypical photo on Instagram on Thursday. Instead of her usually ultra-fit body, we see her post-birth stomach, unedited and uncensored.

Along with the photo which included her newborn, Alexa wrote a caption:

“This is me 4 weeks post birth. As much as its my job to motivate you I also believe it’s my job to be relatable and honest. Our society has put this idea in our heads that women have to bounce right back after having a baby, but that’s typically just not realistic. This is not the truth for most of us. I have more stretch marks and belly rolls and that’s perfectly NORMAL and OKAY. I remember being part way through this pregnancy seeing this woman online 1-day post partum with a flat tummy and abs thinking to myself, “wowie, I hope I can pull that off”. I instantly felt the pressure to measure up. Then fast forward to my 1-day post partum body and it was more of the squishy, droopy flub that I remember after my first baby. As bummed as I was that I didn’t just bounce right back to my pre-baby body, I can’t help but feel so amazed that this body created two beautiful babies. If you’re finding yourself obsessing about, feeling ashamed of or apologizing for the appearance of your body, even if you haven’t just had a child, STOP. Our bodies are incredible and amazing and we need to love every inch of it. Lots of love to all of the other amazing mommies out there! ?”