Congresswoman Sara Jacobs

It feels like your 30s are when it all comes to a head and it's not easy for anyone.

And there's like an added layer of it with service members because what they do for all of us is so incredibly important.

People have been talking about my body since I first ran for Congress.

There have been so many comments about

my hair, my voice.

I literally had someone tell me that I should do an ad in a bikini so that men would want to vote for me.

And they meant it quite literally.

And as I was going through this egg freezing process, as most

women do who go through it.

I gained weight and had bloated, distended belly from everything I was going through.

And there were so many comments about my body and can be really hard.

My job is to be in the public eye.

And as much as I try and ignore what people say, it does affect me.

And part of what affects me is that I don't want

the young women who I know follow me to see those comments and make it think about themselves.

And I'll be honest with you, body image, body weight, food are things that I've struggled with my whole life.

And I've worked really hard to get to a place where I feel neutral about food and that I don't have the scarcity mindset and that I love my body the way it is and not am constantly trying to change it.

And that's really difficult work.

It's work that I have to do every single day

And I hope that as a society, we do a better job of not giving the kinds of messages that I received as a young girl to future generations.