had sex every day for a year': Meet the insecure size 16 mom who faced her fear of being naked in front of her husband

Brittany Gibbons, a mother-of-three who spent years insecure about her body, decided to set herself a challenge between the sheets after her husband pointed out that he hadn't seen her 'totally naked for years'.
The size 16 blogger, who says she was 'horrible at intimacy', resolved to have sex every day for one year in order to curb her lack of self-confidence - which she says was ruining her love life.
'My husband is gorgeous and very, very sexy, but the issues we were having in the sack were all me,' the 32-yeat-old from Toledo, Ohio wrote on her blog, Brittany, Herself.

New self-confidence: Brittany Gibbons, a mother-of-three who spent years insecure about her body, set herself a challenge between the sheets after her husband pointed out that he hadn't seen her 'totally naked for years'

'I could not shut my insecurity off, and sex quickly became a really anxiety-inducing experience that went one of two ways,' she added.
Mrs Gibbons, who disliked her stomach, her thighs, how she looked laying on her back and 'a myriad of irrational things,' said she spent years avoiding sex by using excuses like 'I have cramps. I have too many deadlines. Gigi is too scared to sleep alone let's bring her in the bed with us.'
She said she also tried to explain to her husband, Andy, why she felt so insecure, which made her feel 'like a horrible asshole' when he asked her why him saying how pretty she was wasn't enough.

Fed up with how she perceived herself and the effect it was having on her marriage, she came up with the plan to have sex every day for a year - with an exception for medical problems.
'I have three small kids, and as many mothers know, what happens to your body and self esteem after childbirth is both unexpected and mind blowing,' she told MailOnline.

'Three years after our last child, I still wasn't in a place of feeling sexy in my bare skin, and I wanted to change that'

'Three years after our last child, I still wasn't in a place of feeling sexy in my bare skin, and I wanted to change that.'

With a focus on intimacy, the couple tried to rekindle the sex life they had pre-children - before exhaustion and 'raging insecurities' had set in.
'For me, a year of sex became less about getting my sex on, and more about getting my brain to stop being an asshole when I took all my clothes off,' she explained.

And although it started off 'pretty rough,' Mrs Gibbons said after a while it stopped being a chore, and eventually became 'the moment of the day where I was most at peace'.

Body happy: The size 16 blogger, who says she was 'horrible at intimacy', resolved to have sex every day for one year in order to curb her lack of self-confidence - which she says was ruining her love life

Embracing her curves: Pretty underwear, and wearing the pretty things, 'even if it was under yoga pants and no one else was going to see it,' made Mrs Gibbons feel beautiful

'The actual act wasn't even what felt like the chore,' she said. 'The feelings of anxiety and insecurity felt like the chore. Like, "oh great, time to feel uncomfortable again".
'Then the moments when we weren't having sex, due to work travel or sickness, I began to miss that connection. I really understood what intimacy meant, by the end, and sometimes, it has nothing to do with the intercourse, and everything to do with what happens around it.'

The moment when it became 'amazing,' she explained, was a morning when she was able to let everything go and truly enjoyed herself.

'It took a couple months to get there, but once I was there, it was worth it.

'And being able to be open and honest with my husband, and not embarrassed or anxious about being naked, was amazing, and he deserved that. We both did, really.'

Trying to illustrate to her husband why she didn't feel sexy, no matter how much he found her sexy himself, was her biggest hurdle.
'I needed to explain to him that him seeing me that way is great, but unless I saw it too, it didn't count,' she said.
'It took a lot of talking to make him realize that me not feeling sexy was not an attack on him, and him being hurt about it only made me feel worse.
'I wanted to enjoy sex, too. And the key for me being able to enjoy it is feeling confident and gorgeous, and that was a me journey, not a him journey, though having a cheerleader on the sidelines was a plus.'

Before the challenge: 'My husband is gorgeous and very, very sexy, but the issues we were having in the sack were all me,' Mrs Gibbon, 32, from Toledo, Ohio wrote on her blog, Brittany, Herself

So she focused on what made her feel sexy, and advises other women in a similar situation to do the same.
'It's not a light switch, and it can't be cheated, so be prepared for it to be a trial and error sort of thing,' she admitted.
'I really sought out the physical things I could do to make myself feel sensual, and not, you know, like an exhausted mom of three.
Pretty underwear, and wearing the pretty things, 'even if it was under yoga pants and no one else was going to see it,' made Mrs Gibbons feel beautiful.
She learned how use clothes to accentuate parts of her body that she loved, like her cleavage, waist and hips, which made her appreciate them more.
'Eventually those feelings outweighed the moments of insecurity,' she said.
Finding the courage to then talk to her husband about what she did and didn't want during sex was another hurdle she was forced to overcome during her sex-a-day challenge.
'I'm not an inside climaxer, I'm an outside climaxer. I do like oral sex, but I don't like having my nipples touched, because they are numb. I also hate having breath on my neck because I am extremely ticklish, and then I get goosebumps and my leg hair grows in too fast,' she revealed.

After the challenge: Not only is Mrs Gibbon finally ok in her own skin, it has also helped them be a lot more open with each other

Inside of 'waiting around' for him to figure it out, Mrs Gibbons decided to have the 'dreaded conversation.
'It was hard for me to say I liked one thing and not the other. . . but once I had [the conversation], it was like giving him a road map. He was happy. I was happy. I wish I'd done it sooner.'
The couple recently completed their challenge, and while they aren't 'hell-bent on doing it every day anymore,' they 'definitely make more of an effort.'
Not only is Mrs Gibbon finally ok in her own skin, it has also helped them be a lot more open with each other.
'My thighs and arms, things I've been so insecure about, now became sensual to me, and it's being reflected in all aspects of my life.'
And the most telling sign that reaching their goal worked? At the beginning of the sex-a-day challenge, Mrs Gibbon asked Andy via E-mail what his five favorite parts of her boy were.
'Butt, hair, face, lips, cleavage,' he replied.
One year later, she asked him again.
'Only 5?' he wrote. 'I'd pick the curve of your waist between your boobs and your butt, the spot on your wrist where you dab perfume, your hair when you take it down in the morning, the really soft skin between your boobs, and all the freckles on your arms and shoulders.'