Pregnancy is a funny time but I have come to learn that everyones experience is different.
My own hasn’t been the easiest, with my unexpected bleed at 12 weeks, I had a lot of anxiety which followed.
Nothing is usually as it seems…
In my teens I battled with an eating disorder.
When I left school I found myself in a high pressured job. With deadlines and targets sometimes I would feel out of control – I often missed lunch as I worked through the day until the end.
I started to lose weight and liked it, I then started to use controlling my food as a way to gain my overall control back again. The logic makes sense, but in theory looking back this was a really unhealthy lifestyle.
As you can see below I was pretty tiny, my mum hates image four, I always remember her saying how much it shocked her to see me that skinny.
The Journey…
Whilst in my twenties I learned to overcome a lot of the starvation side of the disorder, but I balanced it with loads of exercise to make my head feel ok about eating. It was the road to a slow recovery.
It’s been a really long process for me and I am happy to be open and honest about my journey in hope that I can possibly help others who have done or do feel those feelings.
My job in publishing has also helped me a lot as I am lucky enough to write many food and drink reviews. It’s hard to turn down plates that look like pieces of art!
What I will say is that since I have been pregnant I have managed to put a few of those issues aside, after all there is someone now much more important than me… I have a baby to put first now.
That said, I am not on “the pregnancy diet” and don’t make the excuse of eating for two! What I have done is enlisted the help of a professional pregnancy nutritionist.
Pregnancy Nutrition…
I have had a lot of stick during my pregnancy because my bump has been quite small, but although I have increased my intake of food for the baby, I have made sure what I am eating is right for me and baby.
My nutritionist, Carrie Temple, has been fantastic. She lives in Scotland, but that doesn’t matter as with the power of Skype we can talk anytime.
Read all about my plan with Carrie right here > Rachel’s Pregnancy Nutrition Plan
The Bump…
As mentioned earlier my bump has been a slow riser! However, when I hit the six month mark it started to appear.
During a recent press trip to Lausanne, I finally had the confidence to show it off. Here is the image I posted on my Instagram taken by my husband at the pool.
What you won’t know is that it took me two hours to post it, I even deleted it once, and then put it back on! I am glad I did though as it has given me more confidence about how my pregnant body is forming, its pretty amazing when you think about it.
Thank you to all of the people who posted such lovely comments about it.
As an influencer it’s my job to post the best images I possibly can and sometimes this means creating a false sense of illusion.
But rest assured ladies, I too am getting a larger bum, my boobs have grown beyond what I had expected, they hurt they (even itch like crazy), my thighs are getting bigger, my hips pop out of joint, I now waddle when I walk and guess what… I still love being pregnant!
