Jessie Decker’s post-pregnancy body Instagram is going viral for an important reason

If you haven’t followed Jessie James Decker on Instagram, get on that, stat. The country pop singer-songwriter has a refreshingly honest, real, and hilarious take on life, which she never fails to deliver on social media in generous doses. . . and she’s delivered that honesty once again.

Jessie recently gave birth to her second child, Eric Thomas Decker II, named after his dad, NY Jets wide receiver Eric Decker. So when she posted a picture of herself in a totally fab outfit of leather pants (which she awesomely dubbed her “Ross” pants) and a blazer, many took note of how much weight she’s already lost shortly after giving birth. But Jessie was worried about giving her followers misconceptions, so she decided to take to Instagram with another picture of herself, revealing her post-baby tummy and a beautiful caption.

“I appreciate all of the sweet comments about how tiny I look after [my] baby,” she wrote. “But I don’t want to mislead any mommy’s [sic] who just had babies and are stressing!”

Jessie explained that with her first child, Vivianne, she gained 55 pounds, mainly because she was ill every day for five months, leading her to binge-eat afterwards to make her hunger go away. But with her newest baby, she only gained 27 pounds, because she was able to eat at a more normal pace. And she’s still 15 pounds away from what she was originally, before she got pregnant with her first.

That’s because she hasn’t actively tried to lose weight and is in “no rush” — and neither should any other new mother. “Nursing mamas should [definitely] not try and do any severe diets or milk supply will run low,” she wrote.

In the picture, you can see her C-section scar, and her stomach is still swollen, she explains. “So no rushing and no stressing about losing weight,” she urged her followers. “Wanted to make sure y’all saw what my tummy looks like under the tank top and blazer. . . I am so glad we all can support each other. Being a mommy is so rewarding but hard work so we need to stick together and help each other out.”

Absolutely. In a culture that prizes a narrow idea of beauty, and encourages new moms to get back to their pre-baby bodies as fast as possible, we cherish these words from Jessie. 

Since posting the Instagram yesterday, Jessie’s photo has over 132,000 likes and just over 6,100 comments. The feedback has been wonderfully supportive, with commenters sharing their post-pregnancy stories.

“Thank you so much for this, I’m 1 year postpartum and still struggling with body image issues, so nice to have someone expected to be so perfect be so real and relatable,” states Imtruelove. “Thank you for being real!!!” says ambere17.

“I’m not perfect but I do my best,” Jessie wrote. “That’s what it’s all about.” And this isn’t the first time Jessie has posted about the realities of motherhood. She has previously posted pictures of herself breastfeeding, hashtagging the selfie #normalizebreastfeeding:

It’s so amazing to see a celebrity use their following for good to normalize realities of life, especially for mothers who are navigating their changed bodies and facing backlash for breastfeeding. Thanks, Jessie, for keeping it real.

(Images via Instagram.)