Well Being

Mom shares underwear pics to show how she learned to love her body after three kids.

"Love makes you fat," she wrote.

It's amazing how much positive change we can create in our lives if we just allow ourselves to do so. Embracing new responsibilities and values is a big part of growing older, as is rethinking how and why we admire ourselves.

Laura Mazza, who goes by the name The Mum on the Run on social media and her blog, posted a powerful photo of how having three children changed how she values herself and her body.


She posted a revealing before-and-after photos on social media and expressed how going from a rail-thin girl with a "high belly button" and "protruding bones" made her feel more valuable when she was younger. She also expressed how difficult it was to accept her new body after having three children.

But eventually she learned not only to accept her new body but love it for all its incredible accomplishments.

Her comments on her Facebook post of the same photo, which has since been deleted, are a wonderful window into the mind of a mother as she looks to her past while embracing the present.

"I remember people asking me what my exercise routine was," she wrote about the picture of her younger self. "They admired me. I admired me! I bought a whole new wardrobe. I was so proud. I showed off my body."

Then, she reflected on the photo of herself now. "Stretch marks. A droopy belly button. Thicker, not many bones protruding, but more dimples that represent cellulite," she wrote.

But Mazza eventually changed how she perceives her new body by appreciating all of the blessings it has given her. "I have achieved more with this body, than I have with my old body," she wrote. I've eaten more good foods. I've lived more, I've given more, I've enjoyed more. I've made life. This body, THIS body should be celebrated and admired."

She ended her post with a great tongue-and-cheek-observation: "Love makes you fat."

Here's the whole post.

via Mum on the Run / Facebook

via Mum on the Run / Facebook

via Mum on the Run / Facebook

via Mum on the Run / Facebook

via Mum on the Run / Facebook

Her post wasn't just therapeutic for herself, it inspired countless mothers who've had the same experience.

via The Mum on the Run / Facebook

They thought her post was courageous.

via The Mum on the Run / Facebook

Some mothers could really relate.

via The Mum on the Run / Facebook

Mazza also made really important point on her Instagram post about how her self-perception will influence her daughter's. "What would I say to my daughter?" she asked. "That she is only as good as the number on the scales?"

parenting before and after honest photos motherhood body positivity before and after photos
Well Being

Pro-vax mom gets in trouble with the law for having an unvaccinated sick baby.

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Sometimes situations are more nuanced than "I am an idiot, so I won't be vaccinating my kid," and the case goes to court.

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Well Being

Ack! I need chocolate! The science of PMS food cravings

Premenstrual food cravings are the punchline of endless jokes. Like most good jokes, they're funny because they're true.

Certain parts of a woman's menstrual cycle do seem to go hand in hand with the desire for chocolate ice cream and potato chips. I hear about this every day from my OBGYN patients.

Researchers have studied food cravings for years; one of the most cited studies dates back to 1953. Scientists – and lots of others – want to know who has food cravings and why, what they crave, when they crave it and how to minimize the cravings. Here's what the research has found.

Craving and eating before a period

Food cravings are just one of the many symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, also known as PMS. PMS is likely caused by hormonal fluctuations and how they affect chemical messengers in the brain called neurotransmitters. Its symptoms are exclusive to the second half of the menstrual cycle. This luteal phase of the cycle starts with the release of the egg at ovulation and ends when a period begins. The symptoms usually resolve around the third or fourth day of menstruation.

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Well Being