Natalie Lue writes...
Last month I had to buy two dresses for weddings we were attending and for the first time in my life, I had no idea which styles suited my body. I needed something that could keep the puppies in, but let them out for breastfeeding, and I also needed to minimise the appearance of my post pregnancy weight, all whilst looking hot to trot. Outfit after outfit was discarded and panic started to creep in as I feared that I wouldn’t find anything and that if there was any hint of post-pregnancy weight, people may comment. Looking back I feel sorry for the boyf who patiently shopped with me and didn’t pull out his eyes with a clothing hanger…
Every week we are being marketed to by magazines that spew out headlines and stories about how whatever A-Lister or Z Lister lost their baby weight. We used to know that losing the baby weight was a gradual process that happened over the year after your baby was born, but now we’re being led to believe that your figure should snap back and that you can exercise off the weight and be out in a growler grazing skirt by the time your baby is a month old. I’m an intelligent woman that knows the score really, but society’s obsession with weight means that I have times where I lack the confidence but have plenty of doubt about my body.
One of the surprising aspects of the weight “issue” is that you get little comments from those around you that feed into the insecurity. I had barely been pregnant a wet week before people started warning me about making sure I lost the weight afterwards and a family member told me “You won’t be allowed to be fat.” Throughout my pregnancy there were various discussions about how much other pregnant women gained during their pregnancies and the hell they had losing it. As I chomped away on giant M&S homemade cookies and went through box after box of Mars Icecream’s, I wondered if I would become obsessed with losing the weight…
I won’t lie, I have a bitch about once a week now about my tummy but I think its my egotistical way of getting reassurance from the boyf. Every day I walk past the yoga mat in my sitting room several times and it has remained rolled up for at least 8 weeks now. Please don’t misunderstand me though. I’ve owned the mat for over two years and never did quite get around to learning yoga… Instead it’s been used for the occasional sit ups and I went through a spurt of them 9 weeks after the birth but got bored doing the sucking in the tummy exercises whilst sneakily watching a bit of chav TV.
There is an exercise class every Friday for mums and babies, but so far it has clashed with me sleeping or doing something of ultra importance like surfing the internet, watching This Morning, or doing housework. Also, after my experience of going to my weekly NCT get-togethers, do I really want to throw myself into the lions den and have to suffer through not only baby comparison but weight comparison?
I haven’t even mentioned that there’s a gym on the corner of my street! There’s also an elliptical cross trainer in our shed that hasn’t seen an electrical current since we moved here almost four months ago. I have all of the resources around me should I ever want to do some exercise, nevermind lose weight, but I don’t use them.
I don’t believe for one second that the majority of the celebrities that boast their weight loss claims actually lost it that way and I’ll be damned if I start following any of their outlandish claims. Claims to have lost it all through breastfeeding probably translate into “I starve myself and only have liquids and a bit of cereral each day”. Claims to have spent day after day with a personal trainer after a c-section just scream bullsh*t. I could barely cough or laugh without wincing in pain and I suspect that this claim translates into something like “I slipped in a tummy tuck after the c-section…” Whatever they’re saying, I’m not buying because these people make it their lifes work to feed us with total doo doo to keep themselves in the public eye, never for one moment thinking that there are people who actually take these women seriously and put themselves under real pressure.
I may have become one of those women that asks “Does my bump look big in this?” and I may be partial to a bitch about my tummy, but I’m also partial to eating what I enjoy. I did find dresses in the end, and they didn't totally obliterate the little bit of tummy I have left, but I didn't care by then. I've had a frickin baby for goodness sake!
Natalie Lue is currently on maternity leave and this post was written whilst eating several slices of toast dripping with lemon curd…and I sneaked in a Dairy Milk Hero in between bites….
