This week’s 2 p.m. Friday live chat will feature a physical fitness trainer and gym owner who will share ways to get your post-baby belly back into shape. Click here to join.
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Aren’t you sick of standing in line at the grocery store, where you are forced to look at half dozen magazine covers plastered with pictures of celebrities’ post-partum bodies?
“Look! Beyonce sheds 60 pounds in 3 months by spending 6 hours a day on the treadmill and eating lettuce!”
“Wow! Jessica Simpson just gave birth, and she’s joined the Weight Watchers family before her doctor even cleared her to hit the gym!”
And… “Angelina Jolie actually looks even more anorexic after giving birth to twins two months ago!”
I mean, seriously?
It takes nine months to get that baby body, and they are taking it off in record time. Never mind, you just created, nurtured, and gave birth to a life.
TV commercials are just as bad. Take Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers commercials that promise the key to our success because actress Jennifer Hudson did it. (Her and what army of personal trainers and personal chefs?)
According to Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD on webmd.com, “Losing the baby weight can take upwards of a year. Ideally, you should take the weight off gradually, aiming for 1 – 2 pounds per week.”
So by that rationale, it should’ve taken Beyonce approximately 10 months to get back to her pre-baby weight.
While it’s sad that celebrities get so much pressure to return to their pre-baby physique, it’s part of their job and the industry.
But I do think it’s unfortunate that those are the images and expectations that real women are hit over the head with before our babies are even born. “Regular” moms like us go through the grocery store lines or flip through the channels, and get the little seed planted that says it’s actually possible to look that good five weeks post-partum.
Maybe for a precious few… but I wasn’t one of them!
An inspiring mom’s group in Connecticut you might have already heard about is the CT Working Moms photographed below.
The pressure to always look good, even after having a baby, can be overwhelming. So the group came up with an idea to help boost their and other women’s confidence. They organized a “Goddess Gathering” where a photographer snap shots of the women in sports bras and yoga pants as they snacked on food and drank wine.
Now that’s a way to stick it to the post-baby belly.
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