Jinger Duggar has learned to accept her body less than two months after welcoming son Finn.
“Vulnerable post: Jer took me on a date last night. We went out to dinner and did a little shopping together,” Duggar, 31, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Thursday, May 29, referring to husband Jeremy Vuolo. “I needed a few things that work for me in this postpartum season.”
She continued, “For years, I struggled with body image and had a distorted view of my body. I believed that if I could just lose a few more pounds, I would finally feel confident and happy with how I looked. But, by the grace of God, I found help through accountability during that season.”
According to Duggar, learning to accept the way she looked was “truly transformative,” but she admitted it’s “not always easy.”
“In moments when old lies crept in, I chose instead to focus on truth and embrace the way God created me. It was incredibly freeing,” the Counting On alum wrote. “I still enjoyed working out and eating healthy, but my identity was no longer tied to a number on the scale.”
Years after conquering her body image struggles, Duggar found it “strange” to gain weight during pregnancy. (Before Finn, she gave birth to daughters Felicity and Evangeline in 2018 and 2020, respectively.)
“I remember how strange it felt during my first pregnancy to gain so much weight and actually be OK with it. I gained at least 45 pounds with each of my pregnancies, even while staying active and healthy,” Duggar recalled. “It was another opportunity to let go of my expectations of what I ‘should’ look like.”
Following the arrival of baby No. 3, Duggar is focused on retraining her mindset.
“God has given me so much joy in this season,” she wrote. “I still have a soft tummy and lingering pounds, but I’m genuinely happy. I’m not worrying or stressing about it — instead, I’m embracing the gift and beauty of this moment in my life.”
Jinger, one of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s 19 children, previously revealed that she felt self-conscious about her weight as a teenager.
“I think in this culture around us, there is so much talk about what true beauty is and what we’re defined by — if it’s by how we look, how we were raised or how popular we are, whatever those things may be,” Jinger exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2021. “For me, the wrestling was with my weight and my body image, even though I was very in shape and I didn’t need to lose weight. I felt like I needed to; as a 14-year-old girl, I was really wrestling with that.”
According to Jinger, only Vuolo, whom she married in 2016, and her mom were aware of her insecurities.
“I think just those [issues] that I had, I wanted others to be able to see that they’re not alone and that there are answers for that,” she said, referring to her decision to write about her struggles in her memoir Becoming Free Indeed. “And you don’t have to feel like you have to measure up to a certain standard of beauty or personality or whatever it may be, but [it’s about] just accepting who you were made to be.”
Slowly, Jinger realized that she doesn’t have to “measure up” to any perceived beauty standards or ideals.
“There are days where I feel like it will come up in my mind for a second, but it’s not something that I struggle with on a daily basis,” she added to Us. “I mean, everybody will look in the mirror at some point and say, ‘Oh, like, I feel terrible.’ Or if I’ve [been] eating super unhealthy, like, ‘I know, OK. I just got to get back on track.’”
