I was inspired to write this post from a picture I saw on my streaming wall on Good Day Sacramento. It was a picture of Beyonce in a flattering navy blue dress showcasing her beautiful hour glass figure. Some of the comments that followed were: “She faked her pregnancy!” or “I didn’t gain that much weight and STILL didn’t look like that after birth!”
My thoughts?
I CANNOT BELIEVE our society has come to a point where being overweight has become so normalized that declaring that someone has FAKED their pregnancy is becoming a real discussion. Is it really that hard for people to believe that you can be fit after giving birth? Sure, I understand that she only gave birth a few months ago, but it IS possible to look seemingly great shortly after having conceived. I am a great example. I have dropped a considerable amount of weight BUT I am definitely not where I want to be. I am still ten pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight.
I am sure if you were to ask Beyonce (or me) how we feel about our bodies right now, we would both say, “I want to lose weight!” Because while we look great compared to the average post-pregnant woman, we are NOT where we were before. If you look at her body before she was pregnant, Beyonce was definitely leaner and not as voluptuous as she appears in her recent pictures.
The real question to ask yourself when COMPARING yourself to someone who was obviously in awesome shape prior to being pregnant is:
“How did I look like before getting pregnant?”
Did you look like Beyonce? Unfortunately, I’m certain most of us didn’t.
In addition to eating healthy, drinking lots of water, taking your prenatals and staying active while pregnant, the BEST advice I could give someone who wants to be a hot momma after pregnancy is to….
DRUM….ROLLS….PLEASE…….
Be Fit before getting pregnant.
If you are fit before getting pregnant, then you gain a moderate amount of weight (25-35 pounds if you are of average weight) then you will usually lose 20 pounds almost immediately after giving birth. The last 10-15 pounds will come off within the next few months through breastfeeding, activity and eating a clean diet.
I know this post-pregnancy weight routine like the back of my hand. After all, I’ve had THREE BOYS IN THREE YEARS! While most women would’ve gained ten pounds extra in-between each pregnancy, I didn’t.
Now that my son is three months old, I am back on the ‘eat healthy and exercise’ band wagon. I’m not a superwoman. I didn’t exercise five times a week when I was pregnant. I splurged on candy, chocolate and cake. I don’t have a personal trainer. I don’t have foods delivered to me. I don’t have super powers that make me extremely disciplined. I don’t have a nanny. I am not JUST a stay-at-home mom (I have two businesses)! I don’t get enough sleep at night. When I can finally get to a gym, I don’t spend over an hour there. I’m not taking any diet supplement. I’m not a celebrity.
What I do have is a desire and motivation to be healthy…not just for me, but for my entire family.
I also was fit before I was pregnant and always made that a priority.
So if you want to be a fit mom – there you have it. That’s the the big secret that you can now market and see how much it sells for.
It takes being fit before being pregnant to be a fit mom. In order to be fit, your must have a fitness mentality that was a clean and active…something you carried throughout your pregnancy and after you gave birth.
What is a fitness mentality?
– You don’t victimize yourself. You don’t blame not having a trainer, a dietician or a job for being overweight. In this case, you don’t blame a baby. (I have to mention that it can take up to a year to lose the baby weight for some people. So don’t be upset if you don’t look amazing within three months)
– You are disciplined. That means you don’t give into happy hours or holidays. You workout 80% of the time you say you will. And you follow through.
– You are goal oriented.
Good luck to all you moms. It’s not easy. But it is possible.
Just stop blaming fit moms on faking their pregnancies…now that’s getting ridiculous.
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Beyonce gave birth in January. This is her physique just a few months after.
2 Comments
Thanks for this inspiration and motivation ! I totally agree with this post : when you really want to stay fit before, during and after pregnancy, you can ! Even if you work, if you didn’t get a coach, a dietetician or a nurse.
I’m totally motivated to be fit before pregnancy (and i do it with sport 6 times a week and having a good diet) and to get back my pre-pregnancy weight in 6 months (max 1 year) after giving birth.
Could you give an exemple of you pregnancy and post-pregnancy weight routine (sport and diet) in order to have you great exemple and motivation in mind ?
Kind regards,
Audrey
You are such an inspiration. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. Right now I’m playing the game from the book Game On Diet and it’s totally working. My baby just turned a year and I totally want to be in awesome shape before baby #2. I’m excited to get my health and fitness where it needs to be. Thanks again for sharing. I want to be like you someday…with multiple kids, doing well with work and above, looking amazing. I know I can do it and you help hide me that confidence. Thank you.