After having her third child, US mum Brittany Gibbons' body confidence nosedived to an all-time low.
Ashamed of her breasts and tummy, the Ohio woman refused to appear naked in front of her husband until he was out of the room, and only had sex with the lights off, she shared in a blog post.
It went on for so long, she began to be concerned about whether it was affecting her marriage.
So she decided on an experiment to boost her self-esteem: She would have sex with her husband every single day for an entire year – even when she was on her period.
Three years on from the eventful year of daily sex, Gibbons says the plan has not only freed her from her insecurities, it's also had a positive impact on her marriage.
"My relationship with my husband, and my body, changed in amazing ways," she wrote of the experience, which did not begin smoothly.
"It started off rough. As a work-from-home mom-of-three, the thought exhausted me ... allotting time out of my day to do it felt impossible and selfish and draining," she said. "I just wanted to lay in bed and watch The Tonight Showand eat cereal and not have anyone touch me."
"But as the months passed, I started looking forward to it. Sex begat more sex, and those connected, loved-up feelings began to creep outside of the bedroom ... and into our everyday lives.
"We were more romantic with each other, touching arms as we passed, kissing longer before work and not just the cold familiar peck. Our relationship was stronger and better when our intimacy was flourishing."
The experience boosted her self-esteem, as she'd hoped it would.
In half a year, she had no qualms walking in front of Andy naked, stopped hiding her body in camis and "made school lunches in my underwear".
Three years after the year-long project, the couple are not quite having sex every day, but are happier and more in love than ever.
"Intimacy doesn't always mean penetration. Sometimes it's making out on the couch like teenagers, sometimes it's Andy triple-checking the DVR to make sure all my fall TV shows are set to record. We all get to decide what turns us on," wrote Gibbons.
She notes that the year of daily sex did not make her marriage "divorce-proof" or immune to infidelity, but it's equipped her with the confidence to tide through such an event if it did happen.
"It was never about anyone wanting me, it was about me wanting myself. And it only took an entire year of getting laid to figure that out."
- Stuff
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