For the Ladies...Long Overdue

I've been hoping to write this blog for a while after several discussions with friends about the pressure to lose weight after having a baby. It's hard enough to get away from the magazine covers, billboards, commercials, and ads that show the "ideal woman" but it's even harder to be that ideal after having a baby.

This link shows some before /after celeb shots - beginning with one that came out a few weeks ago (the actual magazine was at our gym, including how many calories the mom ate every day and how much she worked out with her personal trainer.)
http://www.usmagazine.com/stars_post_baby_bods_021208?slideshow_id=535&o=1

It's really amazing that not only is this stuff all over the media and television but that it is actually encouraged:

"Body After Baby by Tracy Pepey

The average pregnant woman prays she'll get her pre-baby body back sometime before her kid heads to college. But not these celebrity moms—they've defied the odds and whipped themselves into shape before their star kids were out of diapers. Check out our slideshow of Hollywood's hot mamas who lost their baby weight—and gained our admiration."

This isn't meant to knock the attempt to lose weight after baby (an attempt that all inevitably make). I hope that I am congratulated when I am there, because I will be thrilled, I'm just disappointed that the media can't talk about anything else. I'm disappointed that instead of the childbirth and child being celebrated (what a feat!!), it's more often how many weeks, the mom takes to be teeny-tiny again. With hours of exercise a day and sometimes as many as 2 personal trainers, not only is it an incredibly unreasonable standard, it's just impossible for most of us.



I threw this little video at the end because it just amazes me that these standards that women (with or without babies) face, sometimes aren't even real women.