Dominican fitness expert and influencer Massy Arias (aka Mankofit) always gives us all sorts of #fitnessgoals. Not only did she manage to lose all her baby weight only eight months after giving birth to her baby girl Indira Sarai, but she even managed to find time for her daughter while working out. But Massy will be the first to admit that motherhood isn't always easy. In a recent cover story for Parents magazine, the new mom shared her experience with post-partum depression and how she managed to get herself out of that funk.
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More from MamásLatinas: Dominican fitness expert Massy Arias incorporates her baby in her workouts & it's so cute
Massy was fortunate to have had a pretty good pregnancy. She was even working out during that time.
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"I was gangster when I was pregnant. I was so inspired by this little person inside me that I became a health freak and did balance exercise until 39 weeks," she told Parents. "Looking back, I realize I should have rested up more while I could. I gave birth naturally, pushed her out, and was home two hours later. But I was exhausted. What people say just didn't register: 'You are not going to sleep.'"
And it turns Massy didn't sleep. Life after pregnancy was rough and came with unexpected depression.
Things got dark.
She said:
The postpartum period was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, made worse because I was determined to breastfeed but my nipples were a bleeding mess. Those first weeks, I would forget to eat. I would forget to bathe,” Massy said. “It was all Indi, Indi, Indi. If she napped, I couldn’t sleep because I’d have to check to make sure she was breathing. I had so much anxiety. ‘Am I doing this right? Why is she crying so much? Those frickin’ hiccups, when will they go away?’ I was crying every single day. I was losing it.
This wasn’t the first time Massy had dealt with depression though.
It was amazing to hear her admit it and so real:
I had struggled with depression and anxiety before, so I knew what was happening. But I couldn’t do what I knew I needed to do to get better: exercise. I did start again four weeks postpartum, but some followers wrote things like, ‘Oh Massy, you are supposed to be resting, not getting your body back.’ But I wasn’t worried about my body; I needed to feel better. Comments implying I wasn’t doing what was best for India messed with my head.
Things got better when Massy finally chose to speak up.
“The best thing I did was to communicate how I was feeling to my mom and Stefan. If you bottle it up, you will be in trouble,” she said. “Maybe the most important thing Stefan did was find me a mothers group. He said, ‘Hey, I’m a man, and as much as I want to, I can’t get it.’ He had to push me to go, but being with women going through the same thing was so good. It’s important to remember that he only knew I needed help because I told him. Latinas never talk about mental health. I’m determined to change that and help other mothers speak up.”
Massy takes her daughter Indi now with her to the gym and it’s so adorable.
Once she got better, she was able to hit the gym again. “Slowly, I started feeling like I knew what was right for us. For instance, I decided to pump and take Indi to the gym so I could exercise."
We love Massy for opening up about this.
It's hard for women to open up about post-partum even today. Seeing a Latina superwoman like Massy get real and vulnerable about this struggle reminds us that it's okay to go through this. It's just important to get the support you need to sucessfully get through it. And with the right help you will get throught it!
