Image: stephrothstein/Instagram
Source: Instagram stephrothstein #keepinitreal
The photo of a mother and athlete has garnered praise on social media. professional athlete Stephanie Rothstein from Phoenix, Arizona, has shared her photo on Instagram, revealing the excess sagging abdominal skin to underscore how women’s bodies change after childbirth.
The athlete who uses #keepitreal has a horde of followers on Instagram, who were quite impressed with her confession.
Image: stephrothstein/Instagram
She commented on the photo that when she looks down she sees the stretch marks that are there to stay, she sees ab muscles that need continued strengthening, but powerful legs and feet that are ready to fly.
The 32-year old has taken to Instagram to record her training and make people aware of the impact that pregnancy can make on the body of a woman.
Rothstein’s first child was born in June 2014, and her second baby 15 months later. The deliveries rendered her diastasis recti whereby the gap between the left and the right abdominal muscles widen.
Earlier too the athlete had shared a picture, which shows her pressing three fingers into the space between her right and left abdominal muscles seven weeks post delivery. She captioned it saying she could stick three fingers between her two abdominal walls and it was all about functionality.
Image: stephrothstein/Instagram
The runner tracked the changes in her body during pregnancy and confessed that she had been embarrassed due to her stretch marks. But then, she would remind herself that the marks were testimonies of love and a reminder of a woman’s ability to birth. She has urged her women followers to sport their tummies irrespective of their mid section appearance.
Rothstein, who started running when she was four years, is currently training to qualify for the Olympics in the 10,000 meters race.
The athlete has previously said that childbirth and pregnancy were very humbling experiences that she had, although she thinks several women don’t like to share the rough part of it. She says that even though she might “run 5:20 pace for a half marathon, she would still pee in her pants, have diastasis recti, stretch marks, and other postpartum issues.”
The athlete is the latest to share pregnancy bodily changes on the social media. Earlier this year, a new mother received acccolades for sharing her pictures on Instagram 24 hours after her delivery.
