Whether it’s the first baby or the fourth baby, pregnancy is one of the most exciting—-and anxiety-inducing—-times in a woman’s life. As her body shelters and nurtures the unborn, an expectant mother may differ in what sex she’d prefer or which childbirth method she hopes to use, the universal goal is a healthy mother and child.
Apparently though, if you’re a woman who makes a living in and around the the camera, another wish is just as powerful: to return to pre-pregnancy weight as soon as possible and fit back into the skinny jeans within days (if not hours) of delivery. In the six to eight weeks that doctors encourage new moms to recover from childbirth and simply bond with their new babies, many of these jet-setting celebrities are measuring meal portions and clocking miles on a treadmill, determined to get back on the movie set or center stage in record time looking more like a fly hottie than a new mommy.
This ‘race to the fittest line’ has saturated social media lately, and the latest victim of this trend, singer, fashion designer and Texas native, Jessica Simpson, discussed her post-pregnancy efforts to the shed the pounds as the very first guest on journalist Katie Couric’s new daytime TV talk show, Katie.
After discussing motherhood and showing off the latest photo of her four-month-old daughter Maxwell, the new face of Weight Watchers was candid about the struggle: “I’ve just had a lot of pressure on me to lose the baby weight. During the pregnancy, I thought that when my water broke, my whole entire stomach would go down, but that did not happen. I’ve had to really stay focused on my diet and not worry about other people’s expectations.”
That’s a healthier attitude than most of her peers would have, especially since Ms. Simpson gained more than any doctor would recommend for a pregnancy, but where is all of the preoccupation with size coming from? Why is a heavier and curvier post-baby body treated as an freak accident when, in the real world, it’s actually the norm?
In the case of my pregnancies, they were relatively uneventful: no nausea, no extreme cravings and most importantly, I was able to give birth to three healthy children. But here’s something you can’t quite tell from the face shot: I’m shorter than the average woman, barely standing 5’0 tall, with a medium build. So not only am I short-waisted, any pound I did gain looked like an additional five. Since I was in my mid-twenties when Darius was born, the weight flew off with little effort, but that wasn’t the case when my daughters showed over a decade later. The metabolism had slowed down, the fatigue factor had picked up….and oh yeah, they were both c-sections. So recovering from major abdominal surgery and counting calories at the same time just didn’t mix.
Luckily, Calvin never pressured me to get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes, and I didn’t have a swarm of paparazzi photographing my every move, so I was able to lose the weight at a reasonable pace. But that extra time and consideration is due to every woman who’s adapting to motherhood, even the famous ones. We should be fully supported in eating well, resting often, and adjusting to the new normal that our bodies have become, not feel forced by society, our mates or the latest US Weekly magazine cover to revert (usually in vain) to what we once were.
Losing weight is a positive step and nothing’s wrong with having the goal; I just hope that Jessica Simpson and other new moms eventually see past the imperfections and celebrate the beauty that they’ve already achieved by creating a new life. It’s as powerful a look as the latest couture fashions. And, even better, it never goes out of style.
http://youtu.be/gjIZPftTjbg
