u/CopingJewlery

Background:

I met my husband at a charismatic church that he and his parents had gone to for 16 years, and we had to leave a handful of years ago for some deeply concerning theological beliefs they had. I'm not against charismatic church or beliefs, they just had a couple specific beliefs we strongly disagreed with after diving deeply into God's word.

Since leaving and having kids I have kept up on watching their sermons and events held and video recorded on line. I pray for my In-laws a lot and work hard to find unity in what we do agree with in Christ.

The more I'm in a Biblical church, the more I see grievous problems with the church they are in. And I'm becoming increasingly more convinced that they are in a Christian Cult.

They are not bad people. They have good morals. I'm concerned about their influence over my children as they grow. Even though my kids are young (3 & 1.5), my in-laws are very pushy in "helping me raise my kids" by "teaching them how to play right" and I recently watched a parenting conference they had at their church that is screaming cult indoctrination parenting, that they encourage grandparents to also do to their grandchildren. My in-laws are always trying to get me and my husband "back into the faith".

I was hoping to be able to drop my kids off at my In-laws (they live 15 min away) so my husband and I could have date nights and a fun anniversaries in the future.....but I just don't have peace with it. My parents aren't an option as they live 6 hours away and my other family are all in other states.

BUT here is what I'm asking advise for...

Am I overthinking and my concern unfounded on how much influence they have over my kids? OR do I need to be extra vigilant to mitigate what my in-laws may be trying to teach my kids? Has anyone else had in-laws or family that is in a cult? How do you approach interaction and relationship dynamics with family and/or in-laws that are potentially in a cult?

I'm struggling right now with my body image and wondering, how do moms do it? How do some of you get your fit body back?

I struggled with body image ever since middle school and depression piggy backed on my "I'm not pretty enough to be loved" thoughts. In late high school I played water pool, hiked and was a lifeguard so I got super fit. I got to a place where I was really happy.

I'm 5 feet tall with a stalky muscular figure. My super fit body was 130-135lbs. In college and when I initially got married I hovered around the 140lbs range because I wasn't constantly active like in HS. I was content with my life style and body.

When I got pregnant I expected the weight gain ans body changed. At the end of both of my pregnancies I topped out at 170lbs. My first pregnancy I was back down to 140lbs 9 months after birth. But now, 18 months after giving birth to my second baby, I'm stuck at 160lbs. Exercise doesn't feel good anymore, the good feeling aches that use to come with exercise present themselves as headaches and ouch arm and back aches that make it really hard to be happy when taking care of my 2 very active boys.

I know what it's like to be fit, I know how to work out safe, and I feel like my goal of 140lbs isn't unreasonable. I just feel so stuck and I don't know how to start in a way that I keep exercise going consistently enough to create a different habbit and lifestyle than I have right now.

How did you deal with body changes? And how did you find the line of 'this is what it is' and 'suck it up and do what you need to do to loose weight' even if it feels bad?