Most women I know struggle with body image around their lower belly pooch. Society teaches women that a flat stomach is necessary to be healthy, beautiful, sexy and desirable. It's fed to women that the lower belly pooch is something to be fixed or is a flaw. The truth is, a completely flat lower belly is an unrealistic expectation, unachievable goal and a myth! 
“The craze for the past several years is that women need to have a flat stomach in order to be considered attractive. This belief is setting women up for failure because a woman’s stomach isn’t meant to be flat,” Ashley Wood, RN, BSN.
We must normalize what a normal female body looks like, learn to love and appreciate our bodies and stop with the lower belly obsession for our own mental health and well being.
Here are reasons why your pooch is totally normal and a necessary part of the female anatomy.

EATING, DRINKING AND MONTHLY CYCLES
​Your lower belly will grow throughout the day which is completely normal. It's just physics. If you fill a bag up with something, it will expand. When you wake up your belly is smaller and flatter with an empty stomach, but by the end of the day it is larger and more prominent because you ate, drank and have some bloating. It also will vary in size with your menstrual cycles, also totally normal. 
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WOMEN HAVE PADDING TO PROTECT VITAL ORGANS
Why is the completely fat stomach a myth and unachievable? Whether you have given birth to children or not, it is part of the post adolescent female anatomy and part of most women's genetics to have a small amount of subcutaneous fat in the lower belly to protect your vital organs and reproductive organs. It is anatomically correct and totally normal for a woman (in a healthy weight range and with a healthy waist circumference) to have a lower belly pooch!
Many women, including myself, who have birthed children will have loose skin from pregnancy in the lower belly which enhances the pooch. This is normal! Why not embrace this and feel gratitude for the incredible gift our bodies gave us! We made humans!
Why do you see some women without the pooch? Some women are genetically predisposed to not have the pooch or they have chosen to have surgery to remove it. This is not the majority and is uncommon.
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SOCIETY FEEDS THE MYTH
The fitness industry and media perpetuate this with ads like "flat belly diets" and "exercises to lose the lower belly pooch" and images that are altered where women's pooches are edited out. You cannot spot reduce body fat with targeted exercises. Body fat can only be reduced overall by eating in a calorie deficit. That being said, if you eat in a calorie deficit, you will lose body fat in whatever place your body wants  based on genetics. 

ACCEPT, LOVE, TRUST AND NORMALIZE
Accepting, loving and trusting our bodies is easier said than done. How do you do this?
If you are eating a balanced, healthy diet and getting lots of exercise and movement, focus on how you feel. Are you gaining strength? Are you more functional? How do you feel overall?
Lessen the "flat belly myth" noise. It's time to unfollow on social media the toxic images, advertisements and groups that promote this myth. Stop wasting time focusing on this false and toxic input.
Pay closer attention to your health. Is your bloodwork, like cholesterol screenings in a normal range? How is your heart rate variations and blood pressure? How is your sleep and energy throughout the day? Ask your doctor for a checkup on your general health to find out.
I love affirmations and recommend saying them to yourself daily. Say affirmations to yourself like; I am beautiful, healthy, sexy and desirable; I trust, love and accept my body; my pooch has a purpose and is part of my healthy and normal body. 

As many women do, I admit to struggling with my complicated relationship with my pooch. However, I have come to realize that it is a necessary and beautiful pooch! Most days it's smaller in the morning, and larger at the end of the day after eating meals. I have a pooch because, I eat, digest food and drink water, I have internal organs, I have birthed 3 beautiful and healthy boys, my body goes through monthly menstrual cycles and I am 48 years old.
That being said, I am also grateful to my body because I have muscle that I've worked hard for and work hard to keep, I am strong, I crush my workouts, on average I sleep well, my body is fully functional, my diet is balanced and healthy, I am in a healthy weight range for my body, my blood work and vitals are normal and most of all, I feel great and I am so grateful to my body (and my pooch) for the beast that it is!

#normalizethepooch

​I propose that we work on loving ourselves and appreciating our amazing bodies this Valentine's Day!
​Society has trained us all to hate certain parts of our bodies, especially as we age, after childbirth, or with weight gain. We all struggle, which is hard, but it negatively affects our self-esteem, mental health, and motivation. Here are ten things you can do to improve and create a more loving relationship with yourself and your body.

​For every negative thought in your head or word out of your mouth relating to your body, replace it with three positive ones. You can slowly train yourself to reframe your inner and outer dialog. For example, ask yourself, "Would I say these things to my child or best friend?" If the answer is no, stop and respond to yourself with three positive thoughts about your body. What you say to yourself is very powerful. 
For example, if you hear yourself saying, "I hate my thighs," reframe it with something like this, "My thighs serve me well and are strong enough to get me where I want to go."
It's ok to have fitness or weight loss goals to improve your health. However, being unkind to yourself will only hinder that process by lessening your motivation and creating self-pity, which leads you down the path of serving habits that don't suit your health. I'll repeat it, what you say to yourself is very powerful!

​Commit to being kinder to yourself. Say it out loud, "I am committing to saying nice things to myself and kind things about my body." Our bodies are amazing! They can create life, sustain life, walk, run, lift, grow, and so much more! Think about what your body has given you throughout your life and how it has served you well. Commit to being kind to it every day.

​Just stop it! We are all different and unique and come from different backgrounds, experiences, and genetic make-ups. Comparing yourself to someone else's body is like comparing apples to oranges or the ocean to the mountains. Both are beautiful and unique and wonderfully different things on this earth, but judging them against each other is a waste of time and energy. Comparing your body to someones else's body will not serve you or your goals. Think of your body as its unique vessel that suits you, only you, and no one else.

​If you see things in your social media feed that make you feel bad about your body, delete, unfollow, unlike, unfriend, or whatever you must do to get it out of your sight. Don't fall into the trap of unrealistic expectations with photoshopped and video-edited bodies that aren't real! Get it out of your feed, and you will be glad you did.

​In addition to that treat now and then, feeding your body proper nutrition will make you feel good about yourself. Eating all the colors of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and lots of water will give your body what it needs to be the best it can be. Healthy foods are also a gift to your body and improve many aspects of your life, including mood, digestion, sleep, and fuel your workouts. Loving your body enough to create healthy eating habits most of the time will improve your relationship with your body, and you will feel great!