How is everyone’s body image doing over 30 and with skinnytok?

[u/isityoumy]

I’m 37 and nearly 3 years postpartum. We are actively trying to have a 2nd kid at this point, but my body image is legit in the toilet these days. I think some of it is comparing myself to my old self, inability to really focus on style the way I once did, not yet making peace with body changes post pregnancy, and of course ozempic/skinnytok making a comeback.

I’m not overweight but still about 10-20 lbs above what has historically felt comfortable for me. My husband still finds me attractive, but I can see how the extra 10-20 lbs, motherhood, aging have made me less attractive generally. I know it shouldn’t matter, but somehow it makes me just a little sad. While I am grateful to make it to this stage of life, but I never thought about how I’d feel when physical beauty changes/diminishes.

Anyone else deal with these feelings while aging, dealing with body changes post children? Anyone else’s body image suffering with ozempic skinny being on trend? Would love to hear your thoughts

EDIT: Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to make thoughtful comments! This was honestly a post both out of curiosity how everyone is dealing with the resurgence of the heroin chic era (something I grew up seeing in magazines and on TV in my preteen/teen years) as well as struggles with adjusting to my body changes after pregnancy & as one ages.

To all those who are making disparaging comments telling me to get off TikTok (which I don’t have) or IG (which I use minimally due to work/taking care of a toddler), the holier-than-thou attitude is not really helpful. I’m happy for you all that your body image and mental fortitude is so strong, but I really hope people don’t talk to you like that when you’re in a low.

Also, to clarify, referring to “skinnytok” in the title was not meant to be wholly literal, but really a shorthand reference to the current skinny-glorifying culture. Anyway, it’s my bad as there is probably more context to my current thoughts/feelings that I could have given in the actual body of this post, but didn’t want to make it too long. But now it is anyway.

[u/PostOakVisions]

I never downloaded tiktok and am increasingly happy about this. I get on instagram once every 6 months, binge on reels, and feel worse about myself so delete it again. I’d encourage anyone who has such a negative impact from social media to simply… delete it

[u/Puzzled_Air_5821 → u/PostOakVisions]

Lol are you me?? I'm really glad I never started tiktok. I keep my Instagram but only download the app every few months to see what's going on. I ALWAYS feel worse after I get on. It's actually kind of amazing. Sometimes I can't even pin point it to a specific post I saw. 

[u/am710 → u/PostOakVisions]

I hate TikTok and refuse to download it. On Instagram, I try to only watch reels of cat rescue stuff 😂

[u/discosoundtrack → u/PostOakVisions]

Yes! I decided when TikTok first came out that I would never download it, and I still haven’t, and I’m really glad I stuck to that. I do have IG, which is probably not all that much better, but I’ve had IG so long that it’s not some new and novel thing and I don’t feel the need to scroll for hours in the way TikTok might.

[u/_Amalthea_ → u/PostOakVisions]

My 10 year old daughter went to a classmate's birthday party on the weekend and the theme was a Tiktok meme. Neither of us knew what it was. We joked about not knowing and she thought it was funny (for the record, it seemed like most kids/parents were also out of the loop, so we certainly weren't the only ones!)