Welcome to the world of posters.
It sounds like your "trigger" to start this was similar to mine. My youngest had just turned 2, and I was at a party where a woman at the table with me said that I "looked like such a mother." A few minutes later, when I was in the restroom, I looked at myself in the full length mirror...really looked. While the WAY she said it was pretty rude, what she said was absolutely right. I wasn't "fat" really. I wore a size 12/14, but I just looked so, well, matronly. I had a total "mom bob" hair cut. My clothes looked...tired. My face looked...tired. I could hardly see "me" in there. And I decided then and there that NO ONE was ever going to say "I looked like such a..." ANYTHING ever again. I drew a line in the sand, and the next day I started watching what I ate and walking. A few weeks later, I started calorie counting and ramping up the exercise and strength training. I am NOT a stereotype. Being a mother is the joy of my life...looking like a "mother" archtype? Not my life goal.